Twisted Fate
by Obsidian Buterfly
Summary: Sakura take Syaoran 2 an abandoned building to give him a surprise...bt fate has another surprise in store for them.What happens when the 2 are ambushed on their way home?Ch 25:it's finaly finished with the longest chapter yet. Warning:AU, character death
1. Chapter 1

_**City: Kashmir.**_

_**Year: 2006**_

_**Time: 21:00**_

"Are you sure about this Sakura?" Syaoran asked as the girl pulled him along.

"Ne, Syaoran," Sakura said as she stopped to stare at her childhood friend. "Why are you so tense?"

"Well it's just that…" Syaoran replied taking her hand in his casting a worried glance around the desolate neighborhood, "I'm a little worried. We're shouldn't be here. It's almost nine and this is where all those kids have been disappearing."

"Oh, Syaoran, just relax," Sakura laughed, "You're here, so nothing will happen."

"Come on, already." She said tugging his hand when he continued to look uncomfortable, "it's just a little farther up."

"What was it that you wanted to show me again?" he asked following the bubbly girl.

"That's a surprise," she said still pulling him with her. She led him into an abandoned building and up the stairs.

"Softly," she instructed him with a gleam in her eye. She opened a door and Syaoran found himself on the roof.

"There you go," she said happily as the boy rushed out to see the view. Before him was an awe-aspiring sight. The lights of the city spread out before them like a sea of glittering stars and up above them, the moonless sky revealing nothing else except for twinkling stars. It was truly beautiful.

"Wow," Syaoran exclaimed, "This place is awesome."

"I knew you would like it," Sakura said happily. As the two teenagers enjoyed the peaceful night on the roof, unnoticed by either of them, four hooded figure drew closer to closer to the abandoned building, almost stealthily. The leader nodded silently and the other three took their places. Their prey was still unaware of their presence but they had to be careful. All the recent disappearances had alerted their enemy. The hunters were also there, lurking somewhere in the shadows.

"Ahh…!" Sakura screamed in horror as she gaped at her watch, "Syaoran, look at the time. We have to get back to the bus stop or the last bus will leave!"

"Relax," Syaoran said calmly, also checking his watch, "We still have fifteen minutes. We'll be on time."

"We won't be if we keep standing here," She said, once again pulling him by his hand. "Let's go." Quietly smiling to himself he allowed the girl to lead the way. They hurried across the deserted streets. They were still a couple of blocks away when Syaoran felt they were being followed. Turning back he saw nothing. Shrugging, he continued walking with Sakura, but there it was again, the same chilling feeling creeping down his spine; the feeling that screamed, _bad._ He turned back once more.

"What is it Syaoran? Why are you looking back?" Sakura asked.

'I think someone is following us', was what he wanted to say but since he didn't want to alarm her he said, "It's nothing."

"What is a pretty girl like doing with a boy like him, all the way out here?" a rough raspy voice asked from the shadows of an alley.

Immediately on the defensive Syaoran stepped forward protectively. "Sakura get behind me," he said as he assumed a fighting stance. No creep was going to hurt Sakura while he was there.

"The kid thinks he can beat you," A newer voice sneered.

"Why don't you teach him a lesson, Fei?" a third more feminine voice said.

"Sakura run," Syaoran hissed urgently to her as he backed away from the alley, shielding her from the people in there "get out of here."

"But…" Sakura started.

"I said go." Syaoran said. _If only I can stop them somehow. Maybe then she can get away, _he thought. Four hooded figures stepped out of the alley. One was comparatively larger than the other three.

"Be careful not to kill him," the sneering voice said as the larger man advanced, "I want to have some fun too."

_I have to make sure they don't go after Sakura,_ Syaoran thought. He rushed forward and aimed a kick at the man's leg but for someone his size, the man move with great agility. He dodged it with ease and instead slashed at Syaoran's back, sending him sprawling on the road.

"The girl is trying to get away," The smaller man yelled.

"Don't worry, Kyle." The woman said as she walked past Syaoran, "she's all mine."

"No!" Syaoran yelled as he jumped up and ran after the woman.

"You can't go yet kid," the smaller man said jumping in front of him, blocking his way. How he was able to accomplish that when he was standing a great deal away, escaped Syaoran. He punched him in the gut, making Syaoran double over. Out of watering eyes, Syaoran saw the fourth man go the same way as the woman.

"No…" Syaoran gasped as he struggled to get up again. He tried to go after those two but the man called Fei pulled him back.

"You're trying very hard to protect that girl," he spoke in his ear.

"Is she you're girlfriend?" Kyle mocked.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhh…!" Sakura's scream pierced the night.

"No!!" Syaoran yelled as he struggled to break free of the larger man, "Leave her alone!"

"Shut up, brat," Fei said throwing Syaoran using just one hand.

He hit his head on the wall which resulted stars floating before his eyes. Completely dazed, Syaoran gingerly got to his feet but before he was even ready, another punch was directed at his stomach.

"Oof…" Syaoran fell to the ground. The hooded figures were advancing towards him, slowly. But then he heard running footsteps.

"We have to go," He heard a new male voice say.

"But I'm still hungry, Ashura," Kyle whined. Syaoran pushed himself off the ground with weak arms. Still on all fours, he looked up to see the three men looming above him. They had pulled their hoods back. The woman was standing a little farther from them, looking around anxiously. As he surveyed their faces he let out a gasp of horror. There was blood on the woman's and on Ashura's mouth. Syaoran could see that even in the dim light of the broken streetlamp and this made his heart contract in fear. What had they done? Where was Sakura?

"What about the girl?" Fei asked as though if he had read his mind.

"Dead." Was the woman's reply. Syaoran could not believe what he had just heard. Sakura was dead. His head was spinning and a strange numbness was creeping along his body. It was getting harder for him stay conscious. As his senses dulled he felt Kyle pull him to his feet roughly by his head. He felt him take hold of his left shoulder and push his head to the right, exposing Syaoran's neck. As the last of his energy drained from him Syaoran closed his eyes in hopelessness. He knew what those four creatures were and he was not strong enough to fight them. He had no chance against them.

He had failed to protect her and now he was going to die too. No one would see him bite the dust in this abandoned part of the own. No one could come to help him. He waited for pain of fangs breaking through his flesh as the creature bit him but that never happened. Instead he heard an almost inhuman shriek as the grip on him was released unexpectedly.

"Step away from the boy if you know what's good for you," He heard a man grunt in a dangerous voice.

"Well, well, If it isn't the famous hunter Kurogane," Fei said in his hoarse voice. "We finally get to meet you."

"Yeah and now I'll be the one to kill you," he heard Kurogane say menacingly as darkness enveloped him.


	2. Chapter 2

_**City of Kashmir.**_

_**Two years later.**_

A handsome boy, almost sixteen years old, could be seen walking down quickly emptying streets. Vampire attacks in these parts of the city were the most frequent. It is most likely due to this reason; the inhabitants retreated to their homes before sundown. Even though everyone seemed in a hurry to reach their destination before dark this one boy made no such attempt. Even as the sun set, he continued walking on carelessly, hands in the pockets of his long black jacket.

Some people even stopped to tell him to hurry but he paid no heed to their words, he had plenty of time. Besides he had only just arrived. Although, unlike the legends, the sun did not harm vampires but for some unknown reason they still hunted after dark. The boy kept on walking towards an old abandoned building. Slowly he climbed the stairs.

"_Softly."_

He opened the door and let himself onto the roof. It was completely dark by now. Not a single soul was in sight. The lights of the city glimmered before his eyes. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath.

"_I knew you would like it."_

A small sigh escaped is lips as he looked over the edge of the building. They were here. He could sense their presence. Their aura was very strong; he knew that they were newbie's. The stronger the aura the younger or more recently turned, a vampire was.

"Shit," he said under his breath as he saw a young girl, around his age, walking past the building he was standing on. _Doesn't she know it's dark? She should be inside!_ He thought as he slowly drew his sword. Keeping one eye on the girl he scanned the area for the vampires he had sensed. There were five of them, creeping in the shadows, slowly advancing towards the stupid girl.

He quickly jumped onto the ledge of the window beneath him. From there, he silently jumped to the lower window and from there he caught hole of the pole with one hand, he spun and neatly landed on his feet. They were almost behind the girl by now. He ran towards them, slowing when he was right behind them. He tapped the last one on the shoulder. As soon as he turned around he thrust the sword forward driving it straight through his heart. The vampire turned to dust as it gave out one last cry of anguish. The others heard it and turned around.

"Haven't they taught you not to hunt helpless girls?" Syaoran said as he thrust his sword forward again. The vampire he had aimed for jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the deadly blade but Syaoran heard agonized howls all the same. Two vampires nearest the girl turned to dust.

"Who're you calling helpless?" the girl said as she drew back two stakes, one in each hand. Her hair was brown in color, the ones at the front were short and fell about her face but the longer ones at the back were pulled into a ponytail. Her eyes were the shade of jade. She looked at him questioningly for a second before turning her attention back to the remaining vampires. She dodged the long claw like hands and thrust her stake into the vampire's chest with full force. It screamed and turned to dust. Syaoran too did the same. The last one after seeing the fate of his companions jumped and climbed the roof of the building Syaoran had just descended from.

"Oh no, you don't," the girl said as she quickly took out a bow and took aim of its leg. The arrow hit its target. She quickly jumped onto the ledge of the window and ascended the same way as the vampire. Syaoran followed but a little more clumsily. The girl was more agile than him. By the time he reached the top she had already slain the vampire.

"Still seem helpless to you?" she said smiling as she tilted her head to one side, brow raised.

"Sorry 'bout that," Syaoran said as he sheathed his sword.

The girl put away the stakes and drew out her cell-phone. It was buzzing. She flipped it open. Syaoran's heart was racing as he watched her check it for messages. This girl looked so much like Sakura, her eyes, her hair, that smile everything was the same as Sakura. But, Sakura could never even harm a fly let alone slay three vampires… besides she didn't even seem to recognize him.

"I'm Syaoran Li by the way," he said extending a hand.

"Saya D. Flourite," She replied as she briefly shook his hand. "Well, I guess I'll see you around." She said pocketing her cell and walking over to the edge of the building.

"Gotta go," She said as she jumped off.

"Saku…" Syaoran had almost cried out but stopped himself at the last minute. This wasn't his Sakura. Even her aura was slightly different. Sakura was dead. She has been killed by those vampires two years ago. It was true they never found her body but the vampire had said this herself. He had failed to save her. If Kurogane hadn't shown up he would have been dead himself. Kyle had been about to sink his teeth in his neck when Kurogane had shot the stake right through his heart. The other three vampires got away. Kurogane took Syaoran to his place where Tomoyo had treated his injuries. While he had been recovering from his wounds Syaoran had vowed to hunt down those who had taken his most precious person away from him.

At first Kurogane had refused point blank to train him.

"_Go back home to your family," Kurogane stated firmly crossing his arms._

"_I don't have a family." Syaoran also crossed his arms defiantly and looked at the other man steadily. Kurogane sighed and walked slowly towards the boy. _

"_Why do you want me to teach you?"_

"_I have already lost the one most important to me….I don't want the same thing happening to anyone else." Kurogane paused and smiled. _

And so Kurogane started his training. Although he was still a trainee, after six months Kurogane had allowed him to accompany him whenever he hunted. They travelled the country together. Sometimes along with Tomoyo, Kurogane's raven haired assistant, girlfriend, and researcher. They had returned to Kashmir after two years. Apart from the vampire population, nothing had changed much.

"Hey, kid, are you gonna keep standing there?' Kurogane's growl brought Syaoran out of his thoughts.

"Oh hey, Kurogane," he said turning to face the elder hunter and his mentor.

"Come on lets go," he said turning back and jumping off the roof. By the time he got down Kurogane was already in their jeep.

"I got a call from Tomoyo," he said as Syaoran got in and they started moving. The sun was almost up. "She said she'll be arriving by noon." Syaoran nodded.

"Does she want to go for shopping later on?" Syaoran asked although he already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Kurogane nodded, "and we still have to find a place to stay." He reminded Syaoran, as they had arrived in town the previous night.

"Phew, I'm tired_ and_ hungry," Tomoyo chirped happily as she led the two hunters, laden with shopping bags. "Hey, let's grab a something to eat from there." She pointed towards a café that displayed a sign which read _**"CAT'S EYE".**_

"Sure, why not?" Kurogane grunted as he followed the other two across the street. It was five thirty and after every place else that his girlfriend had dragged him off to, a café was no big deal. Tomoyo had been shopping for various things she needed for the dresses. Apart from being a researcher on various things related to vampires, Tomoyo also designed clothes and even had her own line of boutiques.

"Oh, come on, Kurogane," she said as she opened the door, "don't make a face like that." They took the table near the back, which was the only empty one in the entire café. A tall blonde man was behind the cashier. One of his eyes was hidden behind a black cloth tied around his head, Syaoran noticed and his visible eye was blue. It was almost ten minutes before someone came to take their order.

"I apologize for the wait," A female voice said causing Syaoran to quickly look up, "we have a lot of customers today." The girl with jade green eyes said as she handed them the menus, "what would you like to order?"

"I'd like one vegetarian special," Tomoyo said, "and I guess Kurogane would like to have a double grilled beef burger, as usual." She said looking at her boyfriend who nodded.

"Syaoran-kun please order whatever you like." Tomoyo said to him.

"Syaoran?" Saya said looking up from the small pad she was taking the orders in. "Oh, it's you."

"You work here?" Syaoran asked feeling a bit silly; it was obvious from the uniform that she was wearing. Saya seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, sort of," She replied, "my brother runs this place so I help out on weekends."

"You're brother?" Tomoyo asked looking around.

"He's there by the cashier," Saya jerking her thumb in his direction. "So what would your order be?" she asked Syaoran.

"I guess a regular chicken burger would be fine," he replied. Saya wrote that down and walked back towards the double doors near the cashier. Syaoran glanced over to Kurogane who was looking at Saya's brother with narrowed eyes.

It was almost six by the time they were done with their late lunch. People were already departing in a hurry even though there was still time before sundown. Even the workers were cleaning up in a hurry. Soon enough they were the only ones left in the café apart from Saya and her brother.

"Kurogane, we still don't have a place to stay," Syaoran said looking over at Tomoyo who was carelessly sketching on her drafting pad.

"Yeah, I know kid," he said as he got up and started walking towards Saya's brother, "I'll clear our bill and we can go look then."

Turning around, he threw the keys to Syaoran, "you guys get to the jeep."

"Okay." Syaoran gathered up the dozens of shopping bags while Tomoyo also packed her stuff. Just then the café door opened and Syaoran could felt a slight chill creep down his spine. His hand shot towards his sword but Kurogane quickly pushed them back in their seats.

"Stay back."

Two guys in their early twenties (a bit younger than Kurogane) and dressed in black, complete with sunglasses, made their way over to the blond cashier. Syaoran could feel their aura, however faint it might have been it was still there.

"Ah, Sabaru and Kamui," the blond man said smiling at the newcomers, "nice to see you."

"What do you want?" Saya said hostilely reaching towards her leg.

"We need to talk, Fay," one of the vampires spoke quietly, ignoring Saya's deadly glare.

"Spit out, whatever it is, and get the hell out of here," Saya said angrily.

"Saya, could you please handle this for a moment," Fay said calmly, still smiling, as he got out of the cashier's desk, "I won't be long."

"But…" Saya started.

"We still have customers Saya," Fay interrupted pointing towards Kurogane and the others. Then he turned to the vampires, "I guess we can talk outside." Leading the way towards the exit, the three of them left.

"Those two are very strong," Syaoran said in a worried voice looking at Kurogane, "will he be okay?" But Kurogane was already headed outside.

"Erm, excuse me sir," Saya said a bit uncomfortably, "you still haven't paid yet."

Kurogane tossed the money at her desk before he walked out. "Tomoyo stay in here."

-o-

"So to what do I owe this pleasure?" Fay asked smiling at the twin vampires.

"Don't pretend as if you don't know," Kamui said.

"Know what?" Fay asked as he watched the two calmly with his hand in his pockets he leaned against the wall. They were standing in an alley near the café.

"Ashura is back," Sabaru said quietly.

"Oh?" Fay asked looking at them questioningly.

"You know what will happen don't you?" Kamui said looking at him. His eyes were contracted with hatred. "You let in that girl and turned your back to us all."

"And if I did?" Fay said his smile not wavering.

"Why are we even bothering?" Kamui said in frustration as he punched the wall right an inch from Fay's head, making a crater at the place his fist had made contact. Fay stood their unflinchingly, the smile still in place.

"You don't really want to kill me Kamui." He smiled.

"Kamui, no!" Sabaru yelled.

"Oi!" Kurogane shouted from the mouth of the alley. One of the vampires was attacking the blond man.


	3. Chapter 3

"Oi!" Kurogane yelled from the mouth of the alley. One of the vampires was attacking the blond man.

Hearing the hunter's voice, Kamui quickly backed off. The three turned to see the newcomer advance towards them with his sword drawn. Kamui observed him with interest before turning back to Fay.

"Looks like we'll have to catch up later," Fay smiled. Without a word the vampires jumped to the top of the building behind him and were gone in the blink of an eye.

"What did they want?" Kurogane said as he put his sword back.

"Oh, nothing much," Fay smiled as he started walking back towards the café.

"Where did the girl come from Flourite?" Kurogane asked not moving from where he stood.

"Saya is my little sister," Fay replied as he continued walking. "Now are you gonna spend the rest of the night in this alley?"

_**BACK AT THE CAFÉ:**_

"Saya does your brother know those guys?" Syaoran asked in a worried voice as he saw Kurogane head in the direction Fay had gone with the two vampires.

"Sort of," Saya said in way that told Syaoran she didn't like talking about it. Knowing this, he decided not to inquire her further. Tomoyo on the other hand had not noticed so she said to Syaoran in a lower voice, "those two are very strong vampires. Maybe you should go help."

"You don't need to," Saya said looking at Syaoran, "those two don't cause trouble. Besides," she added with a small smile, "my brother knows how to take care of himself. You shouldn't worry."

"So where are you guys staying?" Saya asked her tone cheerful all of a sudden.

"We're still looking for one," Syaoran replied looking out to see if he was needed. "Know of any such place?"

"Well," Saya replied thoughtfully, "if you guys haven't found a place by now." Closing the register, she replied, "I doubt it you're gonna have any luck finding one before dark." Syaoran cast a worried glance in Tomoyo's direction. If it had been just him and Kurogane, that wouldn't have been a problem, but now, was a different case. Sure, she could easily take down vampires like them, but Syaoran just didn't feel comfortable with the thought of Tomoyo, whom he considered an elder sister, battling such wretched creatures.

"I take it that she is not a hunter," Saya said.

"No," Tomoyo shook her head, "I'm their researcher."

"I thought so," Saya said, "how about you guys spend the night at our place? We have a couple of spare rooms and I don't think Fay will mind."

'That's great.' Syaoran exclaimed looking relieved, 'I mean…if its not trouble for you.' He said feeling a blush creep up his neck. Saya just laughed in return, her laugh. It was so much like Sakura's.

_But sakura is dead_, Syaoran reminded himself.

"Kurogane are you alright?" Tomoyo asked in a worried voice as she saw the hunter enter the café after the blond cashier. Saya hurried over to her brother to talk to him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Kurogane waved his carelessly. "Come on lets get going. We still need to find a place to stay."

"That's okay Kurogane," Tomoyo replied beaming at him, "we already found one."

"Okay, but we still have to get there," Kurogane replied impatiently. The sooner they left that idiot Flourite, the better.

"My brother says you guys are more than welcome to stay," Saya said as she walked over.

"Great thing, kid," Kurogane replied distractedly as he hurriedly picked up the shopping bags from their table, "huh?" He stopped turning to face his companions, "WHAT?" he exclaimed, eyes wide as he dropped all the bags from his hand.

"Well, we won't be able to find any other place before dark," Tomoyo replied, "and Saya says that they can accommodate us for the night."

"No," Kurogane said decisively.

"Why?" Tomoyo asked a bit puzzled.

"Because I just said so,"' Kurogane said once again picking up the bags, "I'm sure we can find some place else. I don't want to trouble them."

"They said they don't mind," Tomoyo replied.

"I said 'no'," Kurogane replied firmly. "Hey, kid," he said looking over at Syaoran, who was lost in thought, "Explain it to her."

"Huh?" Syaoran asked as he came out of his reverie.

"I said tell her," Kurogane said patiently, "that we can find some other place."

"Oh…erm... well," Syaoran sputtered.

"What is it?" Kurogane said as glared at the boy.

"I-I-I think that maybe we should stay." Syaoran said not looking at his teacher.

"You're outvoted Kuro-tan." Fay said cheerfully as he walked up. "We haven't been properly introduced," Fay said bowing towards Syaoran a little, "I am Fay D. Flourite." Fay said kissing Tomoyo's hand slightly, like a gentleman.

"Tomoyo Daidouji," Tomoyo smiled.

"Syaoran Li," Syaoran introduced himself shaking is hand.

"Ah yes," Fay smiled, "Saya mentioned you earlier today. So Kuro-tan," Fay turned to Kurogane who was glaring at him, "how long have you been in town?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Kurogane growled menacingly, "my name is KUROGANE!' his voice rose with each word.

"Aww, is the mean Kuro mad?" Fay said mockingly.

"Shut up," Kurogane said crossly.

"Please excuse me for five minutes while I lock the place," Fay said waving his hand around, "then we can retire for tonight."

"You two seem to know each other," Tomoyo said eyeing Kurogane as he glared at nothing in particular.

"…" Kurogane grunted.

"Sorry?"

"I said I worked with him some years ago," Kurogane replied in a low voice.

"Then why didn't you say so earlier?" Syaoran asked a little surprised.

"Because," Kurogane replied, "the last thing I wanted was to be stuck with him again."

"Why?" Tomoyo asked.

"Cuz, he is an idiot." Kurogane replied simply.

"That's harsh Kuro," Fay said pretending to be hurt.

"Anyways," he said brightly, "we are done for the day so now we can leave."

"Oh no, Miss Tomoyo," Fay said looking over to Kurogane with a sly grin, "you don't have to carry all that stuff." Taking the couple of bags she was holding, he dumped them into Kurogane's already full arms, "let Kuro-tan hold them." Tomoyo giggled at the look on her boyfriends face as Fay took her hand and led her out of the café in a charming way. Saya and Syaoran followed the angry hunter. If glares could have killed, then Kurogane's would have killed Fay a thousand times over. Fay held the passenger door of his car open for Tomoyo and then got behind the wheel himself. Saya got in the back.

"Hey Kuro," Fay said cheerfully as he started the engine, "you can follow us in that jeep of yours." Syaoran looked over at the elder hunter nervously as he got in the passenger seat of the jeep. Kurogane started the engine. It was taking all of his willpower to stop himself from breaking the neck of that idiot Fay. Syaoran had never seen his teacher so angry before in the two years which he had spent in his company.

"Here we are," Fay announced brightly after fifteen minutes as they stopped outside a bungalow. Fay pushed a combination to unlock the gate and they drove up the driveway into the garage. The gate automatically closed behind them.

"Welcome to our humble abode," Fay said as he turned on the light of the living room.

"I'll show you where you guys can freshen up before dinner," Saya said as she threw her bag on the sofa.

"Uh…I hate that guy," Kurogane groaned to himself as he watched Fay chatter on happily with Tomoyo, Syaoran and Saya.

"When did he get a sister?" Kurogane thought because as far as he knew Fay had never mentioned any relatives to him before. He was one weird vampire hunter and he still hadn't changed. He still had that happy-go-lucky nature and that annoying smile never slid out of its place.

_Wonder why he is keeping his eye covered?_ Hethought, _maybe he had some sort of accident_. But, the Fay he had known never had any accidents. Sure, he was carefree and careless, but nothing ever did happen to him. He never had accidents. It was like he carried around some sort of charm to ward of bad luck.

"What are you doing sulking in the corner for Kuro-tan?" Fay asked looking over at the musing hunter, "Why don't you join us?"

"I think he is still mad at me for hiding his sword Sohi," Fay chuckled as Kurogane just glared.

"But Kurogane's sword is Ginryu," Syaoran said with a confused look in Kurogane's direction.

"He had another one back when we worked together," Fay replied, "but, I hid it and accidently forgot where."

He winked, "anyways, he was never able to find where and because of that he is still mad at me."

"I'm not mad because of that," Kurogane said as he got up and walked out of the room. "I'm mad cuz you won't leave me alone.'

"Hyuu. Look at the time." Fay said glancing at the wall clock. "It's one a.m. already. Saya please show our guests where they will be sleeping. I'm pretty sure they must be very tired."

"Sure," Saya said as she got up from the floor cushion.

"And, I think," Fay said, "you should take the night off too Saya."

"What? No!" Saya exclaimed, "Fay I…" she started but he cut her off.

"Saya please rest for tonight," Fay said quietly. Saya opened her mouth in protest but then after thinking something she closed it once more.

"And I _will_ know if you try to sneak out," Fay said as she led Syaoran and Tomoyo towards the guestrooms. Saya just huffed angrily in return and kept walking. Syaoran noticed something on the back of Saya's neck. It was a strange sort of tattoo. A feather entwined with runes, in the form of a circle. It was strange and Syaoran had the feeling he had seen that symbol before.

"You and Kurogane can sleep in this room," Saya said as she opened a door to reveal two separate beds, a sofa and a television set.

"Tomoyo's room is this one," she said opening another door.

"I think I need to talk to my dear brother." She said as they walked in their respective rooms, "I'll be in the living room for a while f you need anything. So, I guess goodnight." She waved and walked back towards the way they had come.

"Hey, Tomoyo," Syaoran said looking towards the living room to make sure Saya was there, "if you're not very sleepy could I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," Tomoyo smiled.

"Great." Syaoran walked in and closed the door. He didn't want to be overheard.

"Don't you think there is something about Saya and Fay?" Syaoran said as he sat on the edge of her bed.

"What do you mean?" Tomoyo queried.

"Well I get the feeling that they were hiding something," Syaoran replied, "even Kurogane seems to be hiding something."


	4. Chapter 4

'Are you sure this is the symbol you saw?' Tomoyo asked for the umpteenth time.

'Yes.' Syaoran replied patiently, 'I saw it on the back of her neck and on her left arm.'

In response Tomoyo's eyes grew wide and her expression changed to horror.

'What?' Syaoran asked quickly at her strange behavior.

'Nothing.' Tomoyo replied. 'It's just that I remembered something.'

'What?' Syaoran asked once again.

'That it's almost two in the morning.' Tomoyo replied. 'You better get to bed now.' She said ushering him out of the room. 'I want to sleep.'

'Okay. But what about the…' Syaoran started.

'I'll check it out in the morning okay.' Tomoyo assured him, 'right now.' She said shoving him into his room, 'bed.' She ordered. Kurogane was already asleep.

'Alright then,' Syaoran said, 'sorry I kept you up for so long. Goodnight.' He closed the door.

Tomoyo walked back to her room. She plopped onto her bed and let out a long sigh.

"Poor Syaoran." She thought looking at the symbol he had drawn on a page from her sketching pad, "he has no idea." she picked up the paper and put it in a pocket of her jeans.

And then instead of going off to bed as she had told Syaoran she pulled out her laptop, "So much for my sleep." She said as she turned it on.

After almost three hours of searching o the internet, Tomoyo found the article that she had been looking for. It was a small article but it had several reference sites listed in it. On it top right corner was the picture of a tattoo. A small feather entwined with runes in the form of a circle. The article was under the heading of _**"MAGICAL SEALS"**_

'Bingo!' She smiled softly as she clicked on the symbol and a new page opened.

"I think I'll have to talk with Fay." She thought after she had finished reading it. She clicked on the save icon and got out of bed to stretch her legs. Her right leg was sleeping due to sitting in the same position for so long. As she turned off her computer and put it away she thought she heard faint noises outside. A burglar? Quietly she reached for her bag and drew out a gun. She had designed it herself. She had modified it to shoot both bullets and stakes.

She let herself out of the room stealthily and advanced towards the source of the sound. Quietly she crossed the living room; she opened the door readying herself for an attack. She threw the door open and blinked. Not once not twice but three times before her mind registered what she was seeing. The lights were turned off and the only source of light in the room was the giant television screen.

Fay was resting on the couch, his head on the back and his legs on the table in front of him. he was still wearing in his day clothes. The black cloth that had been covering his eye also lay on the table and near it were two objects; a bottle containing some dark liquid and a glass. Fay appeared to be asleep but as soon as she entered the room he opened his eyes to look at her. At first his face carried a look of surprise which then changed into a pleasant smile.

'I thought I was the only one not sleeping.' Fay said as he picked up the cloth and tied it around his eye once more. He then got up and turned the light on.

'I hope the television was not disturbing your sleep.' He said apologetically.

Tomoyo seemed to have found her voice by now. 'Err… no.' she replied as she put the gun away. 'I heard noises and thought it might be a burglar.'

'Oh.' Fay smiled. 'I couldn't sleep last night.' He said as he picked up the glass and the bottle. Tomoyo realized that the wine was deep red in color. He put them away and turned to smile at her.

"Should I ask him right now?"Tomoyo thought, "After all everybody else is sleeping. I'm sure Kurogane would want to leave a soon as possible and I don't think I might get a chance to talk in private without interruption again."

'I trust your room was comfortable.' Fay said, 'because from your eyes it seems like you haven't slept at all.'

'Wha…?' Tomoyo said snapping back to reality. 'Oh. No. it was very good.' She replied. 'I didn't sleep cuz I was just doing a bit of research, that's all.'

Fai walked over and turned the television off. He looked at Tomoyo who seemed to be torn between two decisions.

'Is something troubling you?' Fay asked.

'no.' Tomoyo replied instantly, 'I mean. Yes.' Fay sat down at the sofa and looked at her in a polite questioning sort of way.

'What do you know about magical seals?' Tomoyo asked as she sat down.

'What do you like to know?' Fay asked still smiling.

'Everything about this.' She said pulling out the paper on which Syaoran had drawn the symbol he had seen on Saya's neck.

Fay's look changed to surprise. She thought she saw a flicker of darkness in those Azure eyes but it was for such a brief moment she could have easily imagined it. 'I guess telling you that I know nothing about it, isn't gonna turn you away? He asked.

'Nope.' Tomoyo replied eyeing him closely.

'Well in that case.' Fay said with his smile back in place, 'this symbol is supposed to be a magical seal to prevent curses from becoming stronger. It is said to have been designed by the ancient magicians.'

'What sort of curses?' Tomoyo asked as she saw her suspicion getting confirmed.

'All sorts of curses.' Fay replied, 'deadly fevers, demonic possessions, curse wounds etc.'

'And anyone can use this seal?' Tomoyo asked.

'No,' was the reply.

'Then?' Tomoyo pressed on.

'Only powerful magicians.' Fay replied.

'So does it have any side effects?' Tomoyo asked.

'Well the person who receives the seal has to fuel it;' Fay replied, 'the side effects range with the strength of the curse. Why?' Fay asked 'were you thinking of using it on someone?' he smiled, 'because I must tell you that it is just a legend so it probably won't work.'

'No, not using it.' Tomoyo replied, 'although I did see it somewhere and it seems to be working very well for those people.' She said, 'much more than a legend should.'

'Really?' Fay asked with interest.

'Yes.' Tomoyo replied, 'in fact,' she said, 'one of the people in question is in this very room.'


	5. Chapter 5

**_okay so here's the next update. i havent been putting the disclaimer up but i dont thhink there is any need for that.do you poeple honestly think that if i owned something so awsome i would be posting my stories here? they would be in a manga or something by now. ahem ahem. anyways on with the story where we left it._**

'_Yes.' Tomoyo replied, 'in fact,' she said, 'one of the people in question is in this very room.'_

'Syaoran was right Miss Tomoyo,' Fay smiled a small smile, 'you _are_ the smartest researcher around.'

'Thanks,' Tomoyo said observing him closely. Even though he was smiling Tomoyo could tell that he was sad.

'I take it you already know who the other person is.' Fay sighed before looking up to see her.

'Yes.' Tomoyo replied. 'Would you…?'

'Tell you about it?' Fay asked.

'Yes.'

'I don't really think I ought to.' Fay replied with a sweet smile.

'I promised someone.' Tomoyo said quietly, 'he lost someone important.'

'And you want me to tell you for their sake.' Fay smiled.

'I know you don't want to talk about it,' Tomoyo said, 'but he has already seen it.' She sighed, 'and I doubt it that you told her the whole truth.'

'…'

'They will find out eventually.' Tomoyo said when Fay remained silent.

'That seal is the reason why she is still a human.' Fay replied.

'You mean…' Tomoyo said as the realization struck her.

'Without the seal,' Fay said, 'Saya would be one of them by now.'

'But what about you?' Tomoyo asked.

'Me?' Fay chuckled, 'not as lucky as her I guess.'

Tomoyo looked puzzled.

'It's easier to put seals on others.' Fay explained. 'It doesn't really matter if they are conscious or not. However,' Fay continued, 'the magician placing the seal must be completely in their senses.'

'Kurogane and I worked as partners for quite some time,' Fay said, 'but he did not know about it either. When I was still in junior high,' Fay said with a pained look in his eyes, 'Fay and I were attacked by vampires.'

'Fay?' Tomoyo asked still confused.

'My twin brother.' Fay replied, 'my real name is Yuui.'

'No he doesn't know.' Fay said when she opened her mouth to say something, he knew she was going to ask about kurogane, 'we put up a fight but they were too many and we weren't strong enough. They bit us.' Fay said bitterly, 'when I woke up Fay wasn't there anymore. Using whatever strength I had in me I sealed my bites but unfortunately,' Fay smiled slightly; 'I was already transformed halfway.'

'So you're a half-vampire?' Tomoyo asked with wide eyes. She now knew what that liquid in the bottle had been.

'More or less.' Fay replied, 'I posses their strength and all their powers but I don't have to drink blood on a daily basis.'

'So what about Saya?' Tomoyo asked.

'I found her two years ago.' Fay replied, 'she was almost dead but I saved her. I placed the seals on her in time, so,' Fay smiled, 'she is still a human even though she got a small part of their strength.'

'Does she know this?' Tomoyo asked.

'She knows about the seals and the strength.' Fay replied, 'she also knows about being my adoptive sister and she knows that she has amnesia.'

'Amnesia?'

'The seal draws its power from her memories thus causing amnesia.' He explained.

'But you don't have amnesia.' Tomoyo said.

'I told you each seal draws its strength from different sources.' Fay said, 'mine is different from hers.' He said, 'the seals on my body draw their strength from my eye.'

'Huh?'

'My eyes are the source of my magic,' Fay clarified, 'for magicians; the seals draw strength from magic. They turn to other sources only if magic is not available to fuel them.'

'So is that the reason why you keep your eye covered?' Tomoyo asked, 'you don't have one eye?'

'No I have both eyes,' Fay laughed, 'the one I keep covered is because my magic in that eye has been sealed completely. So it changed its color.' Fay removed the cloth to show her, 'its golden now.'

'Oh.'

'Keeping it covered is better then answering stupid questions,' Fay said as he tied the cloth back, 'I learned that the hard way.'

'Isn't there anyway you can get rid of the curse?' Tomoyo asked.

'Well according to the legends,' Fay replied, 'you have to remove the source, from where the curse initiated, to cure the curse.'

'Meaning you must slay the vampire who bit you.' Tomoyo said.

Fay nodded. 'The reason behind me and Saya being hunters.'

_**EARLIER THAT NIGHT:**_

"_Why aren't you letting me go out tonight?" Saya asked._

"_I told you it's not safe enough." Fay replied patiently_

"_It's never safe Fay." Saya argued_

"_Don't argue with me when I tell you Saya. You. Cant. go." Fay repeated._

"_Why not?" Saya asked stubbornly._

"_If I told you once I told you a thousand times, now stop arguing with me." Fay said a little louder than he normally did._

"_This is so not fair Fay." Saya whined as she stomped off to her room._

'_Why did stop her Flourite?' Kurogane asked quietly as he entered the room._

'…'

'_Is it because of Ashura?' he asked as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed._

'_What makes you say that?' Fay said in a tired voice as he rubbed his temples._

'_I have sources.' Kurogane replied, 'so are you worried because of him?'_

'_I'm not worried,' Fay smiled, 'just a little bit tired.'_

'_Sometimes I think you're a bigger fool than the one you pretend to be.' Kurogane said, 'especially when you think you're façade will fool those around you.'_

_Fay looked at him with a strange expression as though if trying to figure something out about the man before him. Finally he shook his head and smiled, 'it's nothing Kuro-tan. Don't worry.' With that he had left the hunter standing there by the wall and walked away._


	6. Chapter 6

For some reason, the more he wanted to escape from reality and slip off into the blissful state of not knowing anything, the more sleep evaded him. Finally he got up and walked over to the cabinet. He opened the dark wooden door and pulled out a bottle of liquor. He needed something strong, something that could make him forget.

As he poured the contents into a glass, his memories began to play like a film before his eyes.

'_Did you ever find out what happened to Fay?' _her words replayed in his head.

'_Fay?'_ his hollow voice answered. _'No. I didn't' _he had finally replied but now that he was all alone he could not help but wonder. Had he done the right thing? Lying to her about his twin? Of course he had known what had become of his sibling but he had not wanted to confide that information with anyone.

Fay had not been as lucky as him. It might have been better if he had died but no. Ashura had seen to it personally that _that _didn't happen. Undoubtedly, Ashura had planned on getting both the twins but fate had its own plans; Seishiro had interrupted at the last minute right before Ashura could have turned Yuui into a vampire too.

A scared Yuui had seen the Seishiro and his companions battle the _Coven_ over the magician twins. In the end Ashura had been forced to flee with just Fay leaving behind the nearly dying Yuui. Seishiro had taught Yuui how to use his magic to seal the wounds he had received from the vampires. Afterwards Seishiro had explained the reason as to why the vampires had attacked the twins. He had also offered to help Yuui flee to another country if he wanted.

It might have been smarter to accept the offer but Yuui had declined. He wanted to avenge his Fay. He knew there was no way he could turn him back to normal, now that Ashura had converted his brother but he still wanted to be the one to free him. Thus he became "Fay the vampire hunter."

"I don't need to drag others into my problems." He muttered, finally deciding that he had done the right thing by lying, as he drained off the contents of the glass in a single gulp. He poured himself some more alcohol.

Two years ago, as usual, Fay had been tracking Ashura. His hunt had lead him back to Kashmir. The city where it had all begun for him and Fay. He was closing in on his target, Ashura was just a couple of blocks away but something else had caught his attention. A young teenage girl, covered in blood (probably her own), was choking and gasping for breath. She had been bitten recently but no doubt she would be dead in a matter of minutes. After that she would come back but she would no longer be among the living. No. she would be one of them.

The undead…

The minute she returned he would slay her. Fay had made his decision because he knew the real person died when a vampire was born but as pulled out his stake and gazed at her dying form; into those innocent jade green eyes, something inside him broke. He had to save her. He couldn't let an innocent child die in such a cruel way. And so using his own blood he had stabilized her condition enough to place the seals. The girl did not posses magic so no doubt the seal would use something else to fuel it, but at least she would live on.

It was weeks before she recovered but once she did, she had no memories of who she was. They tried everything they could to find her family but were unsuccessful. In the end Fay decided to let the girl stay as his little sister, giving her a new name.

'_But Saya you cant hunt vampires.' Fay said._

'_Why? Because I'm an amnesiac girl?' Saya asked stubbornly, 'the only way I can find out who I am is if the seal is removed. And that won't happen until the vampire who bit me is killed.'_

'_I want to help Fay. I know there isn't much I can do at present but I want to help.' She pleaded._

In the end Fay had to give in and teach her how.

'Fay.' A small voice came from the window bringing him out of his reverie. Draining the second glass he got up and opened the window.

'Hello Mokona.' He smiled letting a small white rabbit like creature in. the creature had a bright red jewel on its head.

'Fay is smiling but,' the creature called Mokona spoke, 'Mokona can sense Fay is not happy. What's wrong Fay?'

'Nothing. Everything is fine.' Fay smiled even wider. He sat back on the sofa. Mokona jumped onto his lap.

'Then why is Fay drinking?' Mokona asked with a sad look on its face.

'Ashura is back.' Fay said, his smile replaced by a more solemn look.

'But Fay if Ashura is back then that means…'Mokona said in very worried voice.

'I know Mokona.' Fay replied stroking it on its head, 'but I'm not worried about me.'

'But you are worried about Saya.' Mokona said.

'….'

'Why don't you tell her Fay?' Mokona asked quietly.

'I will.' Fay replied with a distant look in his eye. 'in time… I will.'

'Is that all the stuff?' Syaoran asked as he carried more shopping bags with Tomoyo.

'Ahan.' Tomoyo replied happily, 'how about we get something to eat before we call Kurogane?'

'O-okay.' Syaoran replied.

They had left the Fluorite's residence around noon. Tomoyo had told Kurogane that she needed to do some more shopping so he ordered Syaoran to accompany her.

'_I'll look for the place myself.' He said, 'you just stay close to her.'_

And so this is how Syaoran found himself carrying all those bags as Tomoyo did her shopping.

'Hey Syaoran.' Tomoyo said as they got seated in a diner.

'Yeah?'

'I checked that symbol in the morning.' Tomoyo said.

'So what is it?' Syaoran asked with interest. 'It's not an ordinary tattoo.'

'It's a seal.' Tomoyo replied.

'A seal?'

'You know a sort of like a lock.' Tomoyo explained.

'No I know what a seal is.' Syaoran said impatiently, 'I meant a seal for what?'

'Curse wounds,' Tomoyo said, 'such as vampire bites for instance.'

'Vampire bites.' Syaoran repeated, 'but that means that she has been…' his voice trailed off.

'Fay says she was bitten two years ago.' Tomoyo said as she sipped her juice.

'Two years ago.' He said thoughtfully in a distant voice, 'it can be co-incidence.' Tomoyo observed him while she thought about her conversation with Fay the previous night.

'_Is her name really Saya?' Tomoyo asked finally._

'_I don't know.' Fay smiled his sad smile, 'she was still unconscious when I placed the seal on her and when she woke up she did not remember anything. So we have no idea what her real name might be.'_

'_I think someone might.' Tomoyo said to herself, to Fay she said, 'did you find her here in Kashmir?'_

_Fay nodded. _

'_Fay can I ask you one more thing?' Tomoyo asked._

'_Go ahead.'_

'_Can I tell this to Syaoran?' Tomoyo asked._

'_Why?' it was Fay's turn to appear puzzled._

'_Because I think he might know who Saya really is.' Tomoyo replied with twinkling eyes._

'_It would be great for Saya.' Fay smiled, 'she has tried everything to cure her amnesia. If this can work then, sure go ahead.'_

'It's not.' Tomoyo said quietly, 'Saya is Fay's adopted sister. He says he found her dying two years ago and placed the magical seals on her to save her life. The side-effect of doing this was that she lost her memories.'

'She is not his sister?' Syaoran repeated as the truth sunk in, his eyes wide in astonishment. 'do you know what this means?' he asked in a hollow voice, 'she's still alive.' He exclaimed happily. 'Sakura is alive.'

'Yes she is.' Tomoyo smiled as she watched the teenagers transported face.


	7. author's note

**sorry guys but this is not the next chapter. yes this is just an author's note... i know my fans and reviewers are waiting for the next update but sorry guys i wont be updating for like around ten days or...**

**i'm not doing it intentionally but due to unforseen circumstances i'll be kept away from my pc for this duration. (oh the torture...) anyways the thing is i'm goin to visit my cousins in sadiqabad in like about two hours time. its a fourteen hour journey by road... and the weather there is hot even in mid-october.**

**oh and while i'm sitting here typing all this my mum is calling me. no wait she is here and she is dragging me away by my ear.(ow ow ow)... well i gotta go pack my stuff now. later.**


	8. Chapter 7

_**A/N:**__ hello everyone. I'm back from my unexpected vacation which by the way ended up being way waaaay much longer than I had expected. Anyways I've finally got a beta. (dances happily but then notices you guys…)ahem well you guys aren't here to see me dance, are you? I just wanna thank __**danyx17 (my beta)**__ revising this whole thing for me._

_And now without further ado please enjoy._

'_Why_ do we have to stay at his place?' Kurogane asked for the umpteenth time as he drove the jeep back to the Flourite residence. 'I already found another place for us.' he said through gritted teeth.

'Because he called me,' Tomoyo replied calmly. 'And Fay asked us to.'

'Why does that idiot care where we stay anyway?' Kurogane said, narrowing his eyes.

'Don't call him an idiot, Kurogane.' Tomoyo said admonishingly.

'Why are you siding with an idiot like him?' Kurogane asked, fuming at the very thought of his girlfriend choosing the stupid hunter over him.

'Fay is a very nice person.' Tomoyo replied calmly. 'The only idiot right now,' she said looking at him, and smirking at the expression on his face, 'is you.'

Syaoran observed his mentors fight from the back seat. "Why in the world does Kurogane act like this whenever Fay is mentioned?" he thought.

As the bungalow drew closer, Syaoran saw that Fay was waiting for them on the porch.

'Welcome back.' Fay smiled widely as he helped Tomoyo out of the jeep. Kurogane scowled, at which Fay laughed good-naturedly, 'wWhat's wrong Kuro-tan?'

'Shut up.' Kurogane said, slamming the door forcefully, and shaking the whole jeep as a result.

'Don't mind him.' Tomoyo smiled. 'He's just mad that we came back here even after he had found us an apartment.'

'Really?' Fay said, staring hard at Kurogane. 'Kuro-tan that's not right. Why did you want to waste money on renting an apartment when you already have someplace to stay?'

'Hmmm. Let's see.' Kurogane said, pretending to think, 'maybe because I wanted to stay away from _you._'

'Now now Kuro,' Fay said with a smirk, seeing how easy it was to incense the crimson-eyed hunter. 'Don't be so cruel. I'm your old friend after all.'

'Hey Syaoran.' Saya said as she emerged in the doorway.

Seeing her, Syaoran felt a jolt and his stomach knotted. Sakura.

They all proceeded to the living room.

'So Miss Tomoyo,' Fay said with a smile as he took her hand, 'how is your fashion designing going?'

Kurogane glared at him angrily as though he was trying to burn him with the intensity of the anger he felt. Meanwhile Syaoran was gazing at the one he thought had died. "She doesn't even remember me." He thought sadly. "Well it's gonna change once I tell her the truth."

'Syaoran,' Tomoyo nudged him, 'she's asking you something.'

'Huh?' Syaoran said as he felt goosebumps rise up his neck. 'Sorry. What were you saying Saku…I mean Saya?'

'I was asking if you were planning on going out hunting tonight.' She asked.

'Hunting?' he repeated bluntly. He was still thinking about how he was going to tell Saya who she really was; Tomoyo said it would be better if he did so by getting her somewhere alone. Alone. Hey wait a sec! He could tag her along tonight and when he saw an opening he could tell her. 'Are you?' he asked, hoping she would say yes.

'Erm,…' Saya said, glancing over at Fay who, at the moment was very much absorbed in a conversation with Tomoyo. Kurogane meanwhile, had stomped off to his room. 'I'm not really sure.' She finally said.

'Well, maybe we could go together tonight.' Syaoran suggested.

Saya nodded with a small smile before she got up and excused herself. Tomoyo left shortly afterwards, saying that she was going to look for Kurogane.

'Why aren't you letting her go out to hunt, Fay?' Syaoran asked as soon as they were the only ones left. 'After all, she is not really your sister.'

'She might not be,' Fay smiled, 'but I am still responsible for her safety.'

'Well, she seems capable enough to take care of herself.' Syaoran said.

'That she is, but sometimes,' Fay said, as he too got up. 'Circumstances are a bit difficult.'

Just then, the phone rang. Fay took it.

'You people are growing impatient,' he said to the person on the other end. 'I see. Alright, I'll be there.' He put the receiver down.

'Feel free to go out if you like Syaoran.' Fay said to the boy, almost reading his mind. 'And you can take Saya along.'

'Really?' Syaoran asked in disbelief. One minute he was stopping her from leaving the house and the next he was giving Syaoran permission to take her out!

'If you can guarantee that she doesn't go off hunting, then you may' Fay added, 'I know you are dying to tell her.'

'Okay.' Syaoran grinned widely.

'And don't stay out too late.' Fay called after him as Syaoran headed for her room. Ten minutes later, the two teenagers were headed out.

'So got any special place in mind?' Saya asked.

'Well there is one.' Syaoran replied. It was still an hour till sundown as they entered an ice cream parlor. 'You like ice cream, right?' Syaoran asked, although he knew very well how much Sakura adored the stuff.

'Like it?' Saya asked with mock disbelief, . 'I live for this stuff. I can thrive on ice-cream alone for weeks.'

'One caramel crunch for me,' Syaoran ordered, 'and a strawberry double scoop with cherry syrup for her.'

'How did you know I like that?' Saya asked, looking at him suspiciously.

'Saya.' He said simply, 'that's not you're real name, right?'

Saya's mouth fell open.

'And you were bitten by vampires two years ago.' He continued.

'So?' Saya said, pretending like it was no big deal even though in reality, she was totally unnerved.

'Your real name,' Syaoran said, 'is Sakura Kinomoto.'

'My…I-iii… you...how do you know?' she stuttered, completely unmindful of the waiter who began to set two ice-cream cups on their table.

'I know Sakura,' Syaoran said as he took her hand in his own, 'because I've known you since childhood.'

'Since childhood?' she repeated incredulously.

'Yeah.' He nodded enthusiastically, 'Listen, two years ago…'

The blond man walked down the quickly emptying streets. Everyone was in a hurry to get back home, as usual. He turned left, then right, took another turn to the right, and then stopped abruptly.

'Jumping up on me won't work, guys.' He said calmly. 'You're forgetting who I am.'

'Not forgetting, Fay.' Subaru replied, 'just testing.'

'There isn't any need for that.' Fay said as he turned to face the vampire. 'So what is it?'

'We're not talking here.' Kamui said impatiently.

'Of course.' Fay smiled, 'how silly of me. Let's go.' Fay said, to which Kamui scowled.

The three of them started down the road towards a warehouse situated several streets away.

'What is it Syaoran?' Sakura asked as the boy suddenly pushed her into a shop, although the next moment, she felt it had been useless to ask, because she began to sense it. Peeking out of the display window, she saw the vampire twins walking past the shop on the other side of the road. And with them was none other than Fay.

'What is he doing with them?' she muttered angrily.

A million questions popped into Syaoran's head. Wasn't Fay a hunter too? How was he acquainted with vampires? And why was he with them right now?

They walked past the shop without even looking around. Soon they had reached the end of the street.

'They are probably headed for the warehouse.' Sakura said as she grabbed Syaoran's hand, pulling him out of the shop. However, instead of following her brother, she headed the other way.

'Hey! They went in that direction.' Syaoran pointed out.

'I know.' She replied.

'So why are we not going that way too?' he asked, as she continued dragging him.

'Because it's getting dark.' She replied without stopping even though she sounded very worried, 'and Fay said we had to be home before then.'

'Sakura.' Syaoran said, making her stop. 'What are you hiding? You do know those two are vampires. And your brother is a hunter. Then why the heck is he all chummy with them?'

'…'

'If you don't want to tell me, fine' he said, 'I'll find out myself.' And then, he stalked off after Fay.

'Syaoran wait!' Sakura called out. 'I'll come along.' She said, catching up with him.

The three walked in silence until they reached their destination.

'Who invited _her_?' Kamui said loudly, pointing towards the raven haired girl with red lowlights, who stood near the entrance to the warehouse. Her clothes consisted of a red shirt and black shalwar, and her black duppatta, which was thrown on her shoulders in a casual way, was fluttering gently behind her in the slight breeze.

'I did.' Subaru replied calmly as he unlocked the door and held it open for them to enter.

'What? Why?' an enraged Kamui asked.

'Because she will be the one,' Subaru replied without flinching, 'to look after the third source.'

'She?' Kamui said, looking at the young woman before him. 'But she's a girl.'

'A girl I am indeed Kamui,' the girl spoke coolly, 'but I also happen to be the one' she said as she calmly walked up to him, her eyes boring deep into his as she stopped inches from him, 'who kicked your butt at least three times in a row in the last four months.' She stepped back with a smirk, 'which is also the exact time we've known each other.'

Fay chuckled and Subaru smiled when Kamui did nothing else except glare.

'Hello Fay.' the girl said, turning to Fay with a smile. 'I'm sure you don't object to my coming here.'

'No, of course not.' Fay grinned with a sidelong glance at Kamui, 'you're always more than welcome Masooma.'

'Alright so down to business.' Masooma said as she clapped her hands.

'Well, you both know that Ashura has come back.' Subaru started, 'and he is looking for the second and third source.'

'That's nothing new,' Masooma said, 'he's been looking for them for, like, forever.'

'Yes, well that's not the problem,' Subaru continued, 'we all know who the second source is,' he said, looking at Fay who was now looking at the ground. He nodded slightly, 'But we are still not sure about the third source yet.'

'All the clues point to one direction, Subaru,' Kamui said in disbelief, 'How can we not be sure?'

'There can be several more possibilities, Kamui.' Subaru replied patiently, 'There are already two candidates that we know of. There must be many more that we don't know of.'

'Right, so if you guys are not sure who this third source might be,' Masooma said, 'Do you think Ashura would know?' she raised her brow skeptically.

'We're afraid he does know,' Subaru replied sadly, 'because this time,' he looked straight at Fay, who was still not looking anywhere but his feet, 'he did not come back alone.'

**A/N:**_ wonder who could be with Ashura? What is the source? Why is Ashura after it? How _is _acquainted with Kamui and Subaru? Well you'll find out soon enough.... not telling you when exactly though. Keep guessing until I do._

_**Kurogane: …**_

_**Me: what's wrong?**_

_**Kurogane: of all the places you could have made us stay, why did it have to be the mage's?**_

_**Me: cuz I wanted it to be. And you don't know he is a mage. **_

_**Kurogane: (glares angrily) …**_

_**Fay: hyuu. Look Kuro-tan is mad. **_

_**Kurogane: WILL YOU QUIT THE DAMN NICKNAMES???**_

_**Fay: (smirks) my my you're pretty cross. By the way Nims, who's Masooma?**_

_**Me: oh she's an OC.**_

_**Fay: she's hot.**_

_**Me: … (sweatdrops) oh erm well see you guys later. Don't forget to review.**_


	9. Chapter 8

_**A/N: **__wow. I had _137 hits _and_ 70 visitors _for this fic. By the way I realized I still haven't thanked all those who have added me to their alerts and favorites. Thanks a lot guys. _

_And thank you,_ Manga-lover-1-2-3-4-5_ for reviewing and threatening to kill me… hehehe. Anyways here is the next chapter as promised. Enjoy and review. _

Fay's head jerked up, and his blue eye was wide with an unknown emotion, '_He _is with him?' he whispered hoarsely.

Subaru nodded while Kamui said, 'That is what we had been trying to tell you yesterday.'

'I guess that means the time is near.' Fay said, his voice suddenly strong, although Masooma could tell he was forcing it to sound that way.

'Any idea of his whereabouts?' Masooma asked casually.

'We have one.' Kamui replied curtly.

'I see.' She chuckled lightly. 'By the way Fay.' She said turning to face him, 'I think your sister and her boyfriend would want to talk to you.'

Fay looked surprised for a second before his sapphire blue eye narrowed in anger; he wheeled around and walked over to the corner where some old wooden crates were piled up.

'Come out here right now.' He said coldly. He seemed to be giving off some sort of cold dark energy, one that sent chills down the teenagers' spines and made goose bumps all over their bodies. Syaoran and sakura stepped out timidly from behind the crates. Both of their faces were scared; sakura was scared because she had never seen Fay angry like this before, in fact she had never seen him angry before at all; and Syaoran because… well he had never seen Fay angry before either.

'What are you two doing here?' Fay asked. His voice was not loud or anything, but sakura winced all the same; it was just too insanely cold.

'We… err…we were…err Fay,' she stuttered.

'I trusted you two enough to let you go out alone,' Fay said in the same cold chilling tone, 'and this is how you decide to repay me?'

'We're sorry Fay,' sakura said tearfully.

'We were just heading home,' Syaoran started, trying to sound brave; 'when I saw you with them.' he pointed towards the vampire twins, who were standing near Masooma.

'I was planning to drop him home before coming after you,' sakura said looking at the ground, 'but he wouldn't listen. I'm sorry Fay, but I was just worried about you.' She said, looking at him with teary eyes.

'You think I can't take care of myself?' Fay asked, unmoved by her display of emotion.

'It's not that.' Sakura said, looking back down as tears started streaming down her face.

'You wanted to know what I was doing with them.' Fay asked.

'I wanted to know why you had stopped me from hunting, all of a sudden.' Sakura replied.

'And you probably wanted to know why I was with vampires.' Fay said looking at Syaoran. He nodded, not looking at Fay.

'Well, I'm sorry kid, but he can't tell you that.' Masooma said as she walked over to them, 'The only thing you can know is that if you ever breathe a word about this to anybody…' She made a motion with her hand which meant "you're dead."

'You two wait outside,' Fay told them, 'I'll take you home myself.'

'Oh and Saya,' Masooma said quietly, as Fay turned and walked back to Kamui and Subaru, 'Fay isn't letting you hunt because he cares about you.'

She nodded and they went out the warehouse.

'For a brother he sure knows how to be mad.' Syaoran joked, seeing the depressed look on Sakura's face.

'He's not really my brother,' she said, sounding close to tears, 'but he's taken really good care of me. And even though I've been with him for two years now, he's never gotten mad at me before.'

'I'm sorry.' Syaoran said guiltily, 'I should have listened to you when you said it was getting late. It's my fault he's mad at you.'

'Not entirely,' she shook her head, 'I did say I was gonna come back after leaving you home.'

'I thought you were saying that to get me out of trouble.' He said in disbelief.

'Partly.' She replied.

'Okay, let's go.' Fay said as he walked out of the warehouse closely followed by Kamui, Subaru and Masooma.

'Go easy on them,' Masooma called back as she disappeared from view. The vampires jumped to the roof of the warehouse wordlessly and soon they were gone as well.

'We're sorry.' Syaoran said timidly, when Fay started leading the way.

'… Don't be.' Fay said after a while, 'it's okay.'

'Really?' sakura asked. What was with him? One minute he's totally mad and the next he says it's okay?

'I can make you two forget what you heard,' Fay replied quietly as he strolled in a relaxed way, with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Both the teenagers looked at him in fear. 'Relax,' he smiled, 'I said I _can_ make you forget. I didn't say I _will_.' He smirked.

'Why not?' sakura asked.

'I figured,' he replied, 'with the way things are going,' he looked back at the two of them, 'that you guys are going to find out about it anyway.'

'I get the feeling that there is a "but" in here somewhere.' Sakura said in mock apprehension. She was so relieved to learn that he wasn't angry with her.

'There is.' Fay smiled, 'you can't tell anyone about what you saw today. Not until I tell you otherwise.'

'Okay.' Syaoran said enthusiastically, 'we won't.'

'Great.' Fay beamed turning around but kept walking, now backwards, 'so did you tell her?'

'Yes.' He replied.

'So what's you're real name?' he asked sakura with a sparkling eye.

'Sakura Kinomoto.' She replied.

'Sakura, eh?' he said thoughtfully, 'alright then sakura, I need to ask a small favor from you. I know I shouldn't be asking you but…'

'What are you talking about Fay?' sakura cut him short; she sounded a little confused and enraged at the same time, 'just because I know who I am now doesn't mean I'm a total stranger. I'm still your sister.'

Fay seemed taken aback by her outburst, but he quickly recomposed himself, 'alright then little sister,' he smiled, 'I need you to keep the truth about your secret for a while. Think you can do that?'

'No one knew about it until now,' she said, speaking to herself, 'so I guess a little longer wont hurt.' She finished brightly.

A sudden emotion flashed in Fay's eye; to Syaoran it seemed like Fay looked relieved as though a great disaster had been averted, but it had been so quick he thought he might have imagined it.

'Hey Fay.' Syaoran asked, 'I still don't understand what you were doing with vampires? Who are they?'

'They are old friends of mine.' Fay replied in a tone which said "no more questions on this topic." Just then his cell phone rang.

'Hello? Oh hey Kuro-tan, what's up?...huh? Oh that. I keep some in the closet in the TV lounge…it's the room next to the living room silly….okay then, enjoy you're sake.' Fay said cheerfully as he turned it off and put it back in his pocket.

'Kuro-tan was asking where I keep the sake.' Fay told them, 'he says he's searched every nook and cranny of our house for it, imagine him missing out the closet.' he chuckled at the thought of what was about to happen to the crimson eyed hunter.

'Where can it be?' Kurogane muttered in frustration, running a hand through his spiky black hair. Tomoyo had left earlier that evening, saying that she had to go visit Yuuko for something urgent. The kid had left with the idiot's sister for some ice-cream. The idiot himself had gone off somewhere without telling, so now he was all alone.

He had searched everywhere, but there was no trace of alcohol at all anywhere. Finally, he gave up on his search and decided to just ask the idiot where he kept it. He dialed the other's number grudgingly, 'hello it's me.' He said darkly, 'quit it with the darn names already. Where do you keep the sake?' he asked, 'where is that?...fine.' he threw the cell away in disgust, how could he have overlooked the closet???

"Oh well,' he shrugged, "better go get some before he gets home and decides to get drunk." The only thing worse than the actual Fay was a drunken Fay.

Muttering to himself, Kurogane marched off to the TV lounge. The door opened soundlessly, but as soon as he was completely inside, it swung shut behind him. The room was completely dark inside, so he wheeled around and pushed the door to allow some light in. it did not budge; he pushed at it but once again, the door did not move.

'Great.' Kurogane said, kicking angrily, and the next minute he was hopping around in the dark clutching his throbbing foot. 'Ow ow ow. That actually hurt!' He exclaimed as he cursed and set his foot down. He groped around for a light switch but to no avail. And then, something moved behind him. Kurogane turned around but saw nothing. How could he anyway? He was in a pitch black room. Carefully, he moved towards the direction he thought he heard the sound come from. He bumped into a table and 'YAAA…' CRASH!!! fell on his face. 'What sort of a hunter am I if I can't even find my way in a dark room?' Kurogane cursed as he picked himself up.

Stars were flying before his eyes. He rubbed them furiously to clear his head. He heard a small chuckle. 'Is that you Flourite?' Kurogane asked seriously. Nothing but silence greeted his ears in return.

'Who's there?' he asked, still feeling for a light switch.

"Why am I getting paranoid?" Kurogane thought, "there is nothing HEEAAA!!!' Once again, Kurogane found himself on the floor but he could have sworn someone tripped him. 'Who is it?' he said angrily, 'when I get my hands on you…'

'What are you doing in here?' Kurogane heard his own angry voice boom loudly in the room. Kurogane was dumbstruck. How could it be? He never said anything.

'Who's there?' Kurogane asked, finally finding his voice.

'I am.' The other Kurogane replied, 'why are you here?'

'Where are you?' Kurogane asked as he flailed his arms in the direction of his voice, his hands closed in on nothing but air.

'Right here.' The other Kurogane replied tapping lightly on his shoulder.

'Where?' Kurogane wheeled around.

'Here.' This time he heard his voice from the right. He walked towards that direction but unfortunately, he forgot that the table he had tripped over earlier was also there. WHAM! CRASH! Kurogane found himself on the floor for the third time that night.

'Why don't you trip over these damn tables as well???' Kurogane asked as he angrily picked himself off the floor once more. Not even the vampires he hunted had ever managed to throw him on the ground like this so many times in a row.

'Because I know where I am going Kuro-tan.' Fay replied.

'What?' Kurogane exclaimed, 'why I oughta… where are you bastard?' he yelled angrily, 'wait till I get my hands on you.'

'Kuro-tan can't even see me.' Fay giggled.

'Shut up. I'll find you and then…'Kurogane blinked, and the next thing he knew, the lights were switched on. His eyes watered, having been accustomed to the dark, but now it was way too bright.

He found himself staring at the television screen. An angry and confused Kurogane was squinting back at him.

'Puu.' A small white rabbit said, bouncing off the floor and jumping to his head.

'Whaaa…' Kurogane exclaimed as he quickly brushed it off his head. The thing dashed past him towards the door.

'You're back.' An unfamiliar childish voice exclaimed. Kurogane wheeled around to see the white thing jump into Fay's arms. The kid and the girl were standing right behind him, and they both were laughing although the kid quickly straightened his face once Kurogane glared at him.

'I had a lot of fun with Kuro-tan tonight.' The white rabbit spoke???

'Really?' Fay looked over at him, 'you decided to play with Mokona? I didn't know you liked to play Kuro-tan?' Fay teased.

Kurogane glared at him, 'what is that thing?' he asked narrowing his eyes.

'Mokona is not a thing.' The rabbit spoke, 'Mokona is Mokona.' It then turned to Fay, 'Fay, listen to this,' it said happily, "I love playing with Mokona." Kurogane heard his own voice.

'What the?' so this was the thing that had been fooling him? The white rabbit like thing looked more like a meat bun. 'So it was you!' Kurogane said as his eyes sparkled, a devilish smile spreading on his face.

'Waa… Kuro-chan is scary.' Mokona yelled, before bouncing out of the room.

'Wait right there meat-bun,' Kurogane yelled, running after Mokona.

'Mokona is not a meat bun.' They heard Mokona whine.

'You're a white meat bun and after I'm done with you,' they heard Kurogane yell as he chased Mokona. It was quickly followed by the sounds of crashing furniture, 'you'll be a dead meat-bun.'

'Hyuu,' Fay said happily, 'looks like Kuro-tan is enjoying himself.'

Sakura and Syaoran, who have been gaping at the elder hunter's chase with white rabbit around the house, sweat dropped.

'How about we enjoy too, huh?' Fay asked cheerfully as he skipped off to the cabinet, produced four bottles of sake, and set them on the table.

'Hey wait one damn second!!!' Kurogane yelled from the living room, 'kid, get that meat bun.' They heard him shout, shortly followed by a loud crash.

'Kuro-chi is a slowpoke. Slowpoke slowpoke…' Mokona chanted as it bounced around the room.

'I am not a slowpoke,' an infuriated Kurogane yelled as he rushed after Mokona.

'And he is clumsy too.' Mokona teased the crimson eyed hunter as he tripped and fell.

'YOU TRIPPED ME!!!' Kurogane screamed at Fay as he jumped to his feet.

'My my Kuro-tan,' Fay said innocently, barely concealing a grin, 'that is one good excuse for being clumsy.'

'What the heck?!? Listen you,' he said grabbing Fay by the collar, 'keep that meat bun away from me or else…'

'Or else what Kuro-tan?' he smirked.

'Or else I'll…I'll… or else I'll turn it into bacon and eat it.' He said, looking sideways at the said creature with a menacing grin.

'Waah…Kuro-chi is a meanie.' Mokona whined as it jumped over to Syaoran. Kurogane let go of Fay and grabbed the last bottle of sake on the table (Fay, Syaoran and Saya had the others.)

'Ah finally.' He said in contentment as he sat down and opened the cap. He closed his eyes and brought the bottle to his lips. He had not even tasted the liquid yet when the bottle was pulled out of his hand.

'What the…' Kurogane opened his eyes to look at the bottle but it wasn't there.

'Yum yum. Mokona loves sake.' Mokona said happily as it swallowed the whole bottle.

'Hey, that thing stole my sake.' Kurogane yelled at Fay when he took no notice and the kids emptied their own bottles quickly.

'There's more in the closet Kuro-tan.' Fay said calmly as he sipped from his bottle.

'More sake.' Mokona exclaimed happily as it sucked a dozen or so more bottles from the cabinet, swallowing them whole

'Hey meat bun,' Kurogane said triumphantly, 'you missed one.' He held up a crystal decanter filled with dark red wine.

Fay looked up just in time to see Kurogane pull the stopper and pour himself a hearty amount of the drink in the decanter. The color drained from his face when he realized what Kurogane was actually holding.

_**A/N: **__another cliff hanger….sorry guys but I just love leaving things hanging like this. Now you guys try and figure out what is the stuff that's in the bottle while I go work on the next chapter. _

_**Kurogane: I hate you.**_

_**Me: why?**_

_**Kurogane: I have never tripped like this in my entire life and the **_**meat bun **_**manages to do that???**_

_**Me: consider yourself lucky you just tripped. Keep up with this sort of attitude and see what else might happen to you.**_

_**Kurogane: …. (Glares angrily)**_

_**Fay: I heard that you won't be updating on weekdays anymore. How long am I gonna have to wait before you tell me what that stuff in the bottle is?**_

_**Me: just till the weekend. From now on that is when I'll be posting the chapters.**_

_**Mokona: why???**_

_**Me: my university will be starting soon plus my beta is free only on weekends. Anyways now that I'm done with all that I have to say you guys better head to the review room and hand out all the cookies to those who review.**_


	10. Chapter 9

_**A/N: **__We had a little cliff hanger in the last chapter, and here I'll reveal why Fay suddenly became pale…or would I? Hehehe... Read on to find out._

'Uh Kuro-tan,' Fay said quickly as he grabbed the decanter and the glass from Kurogane's hands, 'I don't think you'd want that.'

'Why wouldn't I?' Kurogane asked, as he tried to take them back, but something flashed in Fay's eyes that made Kurogane freeze in a mid-grab. He suddenly looked pale and… _frightened_? Fay seemed to have realized that his emotions were showing, because the next second he flashed a brilliant smile and said, 'this stuff isn't wine. It's something I came up with for vampires, and humans can't consume it.'

'Why?' Syaoran asked with interest.

'Because for humans, it could be fatal.' Fay said, looking at Syaoran as he poured the red liquid back into the bottle. 'And I'm sure you don't want Kuro-tan over there,' Fay looked over at him, 'dead.'

'Smells like blood.' Kurogane said as he sniffed the air and scowled at Fay with narrowed eyes. The idiot was grinning but he still looked pale. There was also the look in his eyes… He was hiding something.

'It's supposed to, silly.' Fay said, waving his hands in the air, 'otherwise how would a vampire take it?'

Before Kurogane could reply though, his cellphone started to ring. 'Yeah?' he said putting the phone to his ear, 'this late?... Maybe you should stay there tonight…huh? Okay fine, don't leave now; I'm coming to get you.'

'Who was it?' Syaoran asked.

'Tomoyo.' He replied, his eyes traveling over to the bottle in the boy's hand, 'says Yuuko had to leave so I'm going to get her.'

'I'll come too.' Syaoran said as he put the empty bottle down and got to his feet.

'No, you stay here.' He said, casting Fay a suspicious glance.

Kurogane got to his car and began the drive to Yuuko's house. She lived in the city next to Kashmir, but that was an hour's drive away. Kurogane opened the window to let the cool night air enter the car. He sighed and ran a hand through his spiky hair as he drove along the mountainous road. Why did Tomoyo go to the witch anyway? He never trusted that woman. She had befriended the vampires for crying out loud. How could _anyone_ trust her? What with all her stupid theories and beliefs.

She said vampires have souls too. They too were supposed to have a conscience… they too cared about others. Kurogane snorted as the thought crossed his mind. Screw that. No matter how dense or stupid someone is, he could see that vampires are nothing but bloodsucking demons… coldblooded murderers… mindless beasts… they cared for no one. No matter how helpless or weak or young their victim was, they will never show mercy. That word does exist in their dictionary.

Conscience was something that was meant for the living and as far as Kurogane was concerned, those bastards were no longer alive; and they did _not, could not _have a conscience. If they had a conscience, if they could care, then those…_things_ shouldn't have destroyed a happy family. They should not have sucked a mother's bone dry, nor should they have killed a father in cold blood as he tried to protect his family. They should not have killed somebody's younger sister. They should not have beaten a boy to a pulp because he was too weak to stop them, too weak to do anything, too weak to fight, too weak to protect his sister and too weak to even protect his own life.

Kurogane gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles grew white. He drove on without really looking ahead. The painful memories kept on playing in his mind, like a film set on fast forward.

_The double chinned monster told his followers to leave the boy dead. The thing had thrown his sister's dying body to him and left, but not after stabbing her in the heart._

'_Now she won't come back. Ever.' The vampire said with a satisfied smirk, and then he left. As he held onto the cold, life less bodies of his family, the boy himself died. On that cold freezing night, the young innocent boy died along with his family, but a ruthless slayer had been born in his place. One who had sworn to rid the world of those foul abominations. _

Only when he had entered the city limits did Kurogane return his attention back to the road. He knew where the witch lived. After all he _was_ the one who dropped or picked Tomoyo up from there more than half the times she went to see the witch. Upon reaching his destination, Kurogane stopped outside the Japanese style house and honked the horn. He wasn't gonna set foot inside that place…ever.

He honked several more times but Tomoyo did not appear at the door. If Kurogane hadn't known better, he would have thought that maybe Tomoyo was in some sort of trouble. Cursing the witch, Kurogane got out of the jeep and walked towards the front door. He rang the bell, but instead of Yuuko, the door was answered by a raven haired girl who had crimson lowlights in her hair.

'Hey Kurogane,' she said brightly, 'you're here to pick Tomoyo up, eh?' She held the door open for him.

'Yeah,' Kurogane nodded gruffly without moving.

'Auntie left quite a while ago, Kurogane,' the girl said with a smirk, 'why don't you come in?' She turned her back to him and began to walk inside. 'Please don't forget to close the door.'

Kurogane glared at the girl; she was annoying too, just like her aunt. Kurogane followed her and closed the door quietly. He wasn't going in because she had asked him to. No. he was going in because he had to get Tomoyo.

'You got here early,' Tomoyo said calmly without looking up as she typed on the laptop.

'Well, the idiot was getting on my nerves so I left early,' Kurogane replied as he stood there with crossed arms. It was a lie though. He had been worried about Tomoyo. Worried, that she might once again decide to leave on her own if he didn't get there on time. After all, she had already done it many times in the past, and on each and every one of those occasions she had been attacked by vampires. each time, he arrived just in time to save the girl he loved. Kurogane didn't even want to think of what could have happened if he ever failed to get there in time. Because for a very strange reason, Tomoyo always became a vampire magnet.

'Well then, have a seat,' Tomoyo said, nodding towards a sofa to her right, 'I would still need some time to finish this.'

'I thought you were ready to leave when you had called me?' Kurogane said as he seated himself. If Tomoyo said she needed some time, it usually meant that it would take her the exact opposite.

'I was,' Tomoyo replied as she continued typing, 'but then Masooma came here and pointed out a few things I missed earlier.'

'Oh yeah, I forgot,' Kurogane mumbled, 'leave it to the niece to find faults.'

'And what is that supposed to mean, Kurogane?' Tomoyo said, finally looking at him, skeptically.

'Nothing,' Kurogane shrugged, 'just get this thing finished so we can leave.'

'Leave? So early?' Masooma pouted, 'and here I was thinking I might have some company for dinner.' She said, setting a bottle of sake and a glass in front of Kurogane.

Kurogane surveyed the bottle suspiciously, 'what is this?'

'It's called sake, silly,' she smiled, and for some reason she reminded Kurogane of Fay, 'and it's not tampered with. I checked myself.' She added, seeing the apprehension on his face.

'Are you sure?' Kurogane asked, picking up the bottle, 'I wouldn't' trust that witch to just leave something like this around and not mess with it.'

'One hundred percent,' Masooma nodded as she seated herself as well. 'Found anything useful yet?' she asked looking at Tomoyo.

'Not really.' Tomoyo replied, 'just some rubbish about magical essences and their qualities.'

'I see.' Masooma replied as she took the bottle from Kurogane and poured the wine for him. 'What does it say?'

'Well, it says that magical essences are of three types: buried, active and dormant.' Tomoyo replied, 'their possessor is also known as the source. According to this article, the essences, when combined, are the keys to some sort of ultimate power.'

'Ahan,' Masooma said, walking behind Tomoyo and leaning over her shoulder to view the screen. She muttered something which Kurogane and Tomoyo did not catch. 'Well, I guess you can research this stuff some other time.' Masooma said brightly, 'I think I will prepare dinner for you two. Kurogane looks like he is itching to get out of here.' She said, smirking at the scowling hunter.

'Aren't you gonna eat?' Kurogane asked, when he saw that the table was set only for two.

'Me?' Masooma said with a glazed look in her eyes, 'no I think I'll eat later. I made this especially for you two. I hope it's not bad. It's been quite a while since I cooked anything.'

'Wow, this is amazing Masooma!' Tomoyo said as she started eating, 'this is really good. Don't you think so too Kurogane?' she asked, kicking him under the table to get his attention as the said man was eating his food with inhuman speed.

'Ow.' Kurogane exclaimed, 'yeah it's not bad.' He said, shortly returning his attention to the plate before him.

Masooma beamed as she stood in the door way. She watched them eat with a distant look in her eyes.

'Well, please enjoy yourselves then, I'll be in the living room.' She said as she walked out. She picked up the laptop and turned it on once again. She muttered something and the web page that Tomoyo opened on magical essences opened once more. She read it thoroughly. This was definitely something. Fay and the others knew about the sources and the use of the essences, but what they did not know was about the ritual involved in the separation and the re-bonding of the essences. This would definitely help them turn the tables on Ashura and the coven.

'Alright bye.' Tomoyo waved from the jeep as Kurogane started the engine, 'the food was amazing, please eat something yourself too.'

'I will.' Masooma replied with a smile as she waved after the moving vehicle. She closed the door and sighed, 'it's not like I have any other choice.' She said sadly as she walked back to the kitchen. She picked up the dishes and put the contents away in the fridge. Then she walked over back to her room and removed her leather wristband which she wore all the time. 'I am so sorry guys.' She said as a single tear fell from her eyes.

'So was that stuff really rubbish?' Kurogane asked as he silently drove on, leaving the city limits.

'no.' Tomoyo replied, 'it was quite useful actually,' she said, looking at him seriously, 'I mean; now we don't just have to look for one other source but _two _othersources.'

_**A/N:**__ hmm so now we know of Kuro-tan's past as well. And look, he finally gets some sake._

_And it looks like Tomoyo and Kurogane also know about the sources. But what exactly is the power that their essence can grant? They are looking for two other sources; does this mean that they already know of the third source? Well you'll find that out in the chapters to come._

_**Fay: I didn't know Kuro-tan had a sister?**_

_**Kurogane: WHAT??? (Yelps suddenly which causes him to choke and gag on the sake he was drinking) **_

_**Me: (grinning widely) well now you do know.**_

_**Kurogane: what the hell? (Swears a very long stream of curses as he coughs) I was an ONLY CHILD!!!**_

_**Me: (sweatdrops) uh really? Oh erm…well it's my story so erm… that means that err… I can do whatever I like…yeah that's it. I can do whatever I like because I'm the writer. (Smiles in a satisfied way)**_

_**Fay: (looks past my shoulder and gets excited.) hey is that Masooma? I think I'll go say hi.**_

_**Me: (sweatdrops as I see Kurogane draw his sword and look over at me) okay erm well… I think I'm gonna run for my life...**_

_**(In the distance) hey stop…you can't do this to me…you can't tie me up. Who's gonna write the next chapter??? **_

_**Helppp!!! (Kurogane walks off with his arm around Tomoyo)**_


	11. Chapter 10

_**A/N: hahaha…I'm freee. Looks like Kuro's knots still need some work. By the way while I was all tied up I found a plot bunny hiding in the cupboard who's given me this wonderful idea and I'm gona turn it into another fic. (Looks at you guys glaring for keeping you guys waiting.)Okay erm well you'll be seeing the first chapter of that one pretty soon. Now I guess I'm gona leave you guys to read this while I go work on the other thing. **_

_**Enjoy.**_

'Saya wake up.' Fay said softly as he shook the sleeping girl. The alarm was still ringing on the table beside her bed.

'Mmm…just five more minutes, Fay.' She mumbled, turning to the other side of her bed and pulling the pillow over her head. Smiling to himself, Fay turned the alarm off and turned to leave. 'Be downstairs in twenty minutes or you'll be late for school.'

Saya mumbled something in return as Fay closed the door to her room. Just then, the phone rang.

'Hello?' he said, holding the receiver to his ear.

'I hope it's not too early,' it was Masooma.

'No, I was just waking Saya up,' Fay said cheerfully, 'so is she back?'

'Yeah,' Masooma replied, 'and she wants to see you.'

'When?' Fay asked.

'Tonight, at the warehouse.' Masooma replied shortly, 'I'll let them know as well.'

'Okay.' Fay chirped.

'Hey Fay,' Saya said sleepily as she walked past him, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

'Good morning Saya.' Fay replied with the same cheerfulness, as he set the receiver down. 'Great day isn't it?'

'Yeah.' She replied sleepily as she opened the door to the washroom.

'Breakfast is in ten minutes, so hurry up,' Fay said as he headed down the stairs.

Although Fay was whistling cheerfully the entire time he was making breakfast, he was preoccupied. Even though she had lost her memories and hunted vampires, in reality Saya…no, Sakura was still the same innocent and sweet girl that Fay had taken in two years ago. How would she feel when she found out the truth? Would she be hurt? Betrayed, perhaps? Would she hate him for lying? Would she understand why he never told her before? But whatever she might feel, there was no denying the fact that Fay would have to tell her soon. After all, his time was almost up.

"Maybe I should take her along tonight, the sooner she knows the better."

_**Meanwhile in Tomoyo's room:**_

'Tonight?' Tomoyo asked the person at the other end of the line.

'Yes, and bring Kurogane along when you come.' Yuuko replied.

'Alright,' Tomoyo said seriously as she cut the call. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

'Come in.' she said, jumping out of her bed. Kurogane came in, already fully dressed.

'She wants to see us tonight.' Tomoyo said quietly, once Kurogane closed the door behind him.

'Us??? Why does she want me there as well? I thought she told you everything.' Kurogane said as he slumped on the sofa.

'She said it was important that I bring you along.' Tomoyo replied.

'Where?' Kurogane asked, folding his arms.

'At the warehouse.' She said quietly, she could hear Fay whistling happily as he walked past her room.

'Why can't she see us during the day?' Kurogane asked narrowing his eyes.

'She said some other people were coming too.' Tomoyo replied, looking at the floor.

'Don't tell me she's invited those bastards along.' Kurogane said in exasperation. He knew exactly who these _other people_ were going to be. More blood sucking vampires, no doubt.

'She said they were going to help us.' Tomoyo said seriously.

Kurogane snorted, 'vampires would never help us Tomoyo. When are you ever going to understand that?'

'That is what you think Kurogane,' Tomoyo replied, walking past him towards the door, 'not all of them are soul less you know.'

That night, a car pulled up slowly in front of the warehouse.

'Why did we come here?' Saya asked as she stepped out of the car.

'You'll know in a short while,' Fay replied in a preoccupied way, as his mind was still busy imagining her reaction once she found out.

'Fay,' Syaoran said feeling the familiar chill creep down his spine.

A vampire's aura. 'There are vampires around here.'

'No it's fine,' Fay said quickly as Saya and Syaoran drew their weapons, 'they will not do anything.' he said waving his hand, gesturing them to put the sword and stakes away.

The kids obeyed with a puzzled expression and followed the blond man as he unlocked the side door and entered the warehouse.

'Oh great!' an exasperated Kamui exclaimed upon seeing the new arrivals. 'He decided to bring along kids.'

'Calm down Kamui,' a pleasant feminine voice said from the shadows, 'I asked him to bring them along.'

Kamui looked at the dark corner, where the voice came from, with incredulity.

'My, my, Sakura,' the owner of the voice said, emerging from the dark corner. The woman was extremely beautiful; she had wine red eyes and long black locks, pulled back from her face, revealing a perfect face. She walked straight to Saya and cupped her face with one hand, 'you look exactly like your mother when she was your age.'

'You know…my mother???' Saya gasped.

'And your father and brother.' The woman replied serenely as she removed her hand from Saya's face and walked over to Fay, 'you have taken good care of her, Yuui.'

'I promised to.' Fay replied quietly.

'Fay, what's going on?' Sakura asked, looking at him wide eyes. Fay could not bear to look in those jade eyes, he could see hurt mingled with disbelief , 'you know this woman? Did you know she knows my family?' her voice broke.

Fay looked away and nodded.

'You were lying to me?' she asked, her voice rising with each word.

'…'

'Why?' she shrieked.

'Because your brother asked him to.' The woman replied in Fay's place. 'You shouldn't hate Yuui. He was merely fulfilling your brother's dying wish.'

'He's… dead?' it was Syaoran who said this.

'He was killed shortly after Sakura was bitten.'

'He was one of the best hunters who ever lived,' Masooma, who was with Subaru, said, closing the door she had come through, 'but when he found out what had happened to his sister,' she continued walking down the small flight of steps, 'he was enraged beyond imagination. Nothing we said could change his mind. He wanted to kill them all, and two nights after you were bitten, he went to slay the entire coven, alone.' She said sadly.

'By the time we got there it was too late,' Subaru said solemnly, 'He was already transforming into one of them.'

'You mean one of _you_.' Syaoran said as he put an arm across Saya's shoulders and pulled her sobbing form closer.

'No,' Kamui replied sharply, 'we are different from the coven. They have no soul.'

'So _you_ killed him???' Syaoran asked incredulously.

'No,' Fay finally spoke, 'he did it himself. We told him we could help him with the soul problem but he said he didn't want to spend the rest of his life as the thing he detested the most.' He walked to Sakura and pulled her into an embrace, 'I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you.' He said, finally looking into her green eyes, 'your brother asked me to never let you find this out,' Fay said wiping tears from her face, 'but unfortunately circumstances have changed so much that I couldn't leave you without telling you the truth.'

'What about my parents?' Sakura asked, uncertain if she wanted to hear the answer.

'They died when you were five, Sakura.' Syaoran told her. He could not even imagine what she might be feeling. Not remembering who you were suddenly wasn't so painful, compared with knowing that the family you hoped to find someday was already dead, and you couldn't even weep for them because you never really knew what they were like.

'I'm so sorry Sakura.' Fay whispered, kissing her gently on the forehead before embracing her once more.

'Yuui,' the woman said quietly, 'why don't you let her friend comfort her? We still have a lot to discuss.'

Fay pulled out of the embrace, looking at Sakura apologetically before following the woman to the corner where the others were gathered.

Kamui was leaning against the wall while Subaru and Masooma were sitting on the dumped wooden crates.

'We will begin shortly,' the woman said as Subaru opened his mouth to say something, 'I am expecting two more people.'

As if on cue, they all heard the sound of an engine stopping outside the warehouse. Shortly after, the door opened and in entered a tall man dressed in black, carrying a sword, and a petite young woman wearing blue denim jeans and a purple top. The newcomers stopped at the door to observe everyone inside. The woman waved before she dragged the man inside.

'Good evening Yuuko.' Tomoyo said brightly.

'Hello Tomoyo. I'm glad you came along Kurogane,' Yuuko said serenely. Kurogane just scowled at her with narrowed eyes. His scowl became even more pronounced when he saw who else was present. His gaze lingered at the two teens at the other side of the warehouse: Syaoran was busy comforting the idiot's sister.

'I take it you already know Fay and Masooma,' Yuuko said, 'this is Kamui and Subaru. Kamui, Subaru this is Kurogane and Tomoyo.'

'What are they doing here?' Kamui and Kurogane said at the same time.

'All of you are here because you all were involved with the sources in some way.' Yuuko replied, 'Fay, you and the twins, along with my niece, have been searching for the third source for quite some time now,' she said looking at the said people, 'whereas you and Tomoyo,' she said looking straight at Kurogane, 'have been looking for the first and the second source.'

She let her words linger for a while before continuing, 'I have known of all three since the very beginning.' She said calmly, eliciting various reactions from the listeners.

'WHAT?!?' Masooma and Kamui exclaimed.

'Then why didn't you tell us before now?' Subaru asked politely.

'Yeah witch, why didn't you?' Kurogane growled.

Fay and Tomoyo remained silent. Sakura, who has stopped crying and was now looking like she had a bad cold, has joined the group with Syaoran in tow.

'I had my reasons,' Yuuko replied.

'Such as?' Kurogane asked rudely.

'Such as the fact that their identity is the most guarded secret.' Yuuko replied, walking upto him and looking him straight in the eye, 'such as the fact that if this secret was somehow exposed,' she said moving even closer, her red eyes narrowing to slits, 'your girlfriend over there,' she said cocking her head in Tomoyo's direction, 'would be dead.'

_**A/N:**__ well Yuuko finally entered the scene and it turns out she knew everything. She kept calling Fay by his real name. (Yes it wasn't a typo.) And, even though she still doesn't remember any of them, Sakura finally knows everything about her family. Oh and please don't get mad at me for killing Touya cuz I did warn you about the character deaths. You proceeded at your own risk. And this might be a spoiler for the story but a few of the main characters might die in the end. (Oh yeah! I have finally decided how this is going to end.)_

_**Syaoran: you really like killing people don't you?**_

_**Me: (acts surprised) oh you noticed.**_

_**Sakura/Saya: why did you kill my brother? I didn't even get to meet him!**_

_**Me: sorry but that's the way its gonna be. (Grins like a maniac while eying the two teenagers.)I wonder who is gonna die next? **_

_**Syaoran and Sakura sweat dropped and run away screaming like little girls when they see me draw a really BIG sword, (I stole it from Cloud Strife ;) )**_

_**Me: hey guys wait up! I just wanna play… (Turns back to face you all) review or I'll be coming after you next.**_


	12. Chapter 11

_**A/N:**__**phew! I finally got time to get online… my first week in university ended today and I am exhausted. Buuut I still have to update. So here is the next chapter. I hope you like it. **_

_**Before you guys start reading I think I forgot to mention it but a few of the upcoming chapters (including this one) might contain some grammatical mistakes and the like. The reason for that is that my beta will be unavailable till mid December and since I don't want to put this thing on a halt till she's back so I'll be posting them without any editing.**_

_**Now please go ahead and enjoy. **_

'_Such as the fact that their identity is the most guarded secret.' Yuuko replied walking upto him and looking him straight in the eye, 'such as the fact that if this secret was somehow exposed,' she said moving even closer, her red eyes narrowed to slits, 'your girlfriend over there,' she said cocking her head in Tomoyo's direction, 'would be dead.' _

'Or worse.' Masooma was the one who said this.

'Alright now that we are done with Kurogane's interview,' Yuuko said with a slight hint of a smirk as she broke the eye contact and walked back to her initial place.

'So are you going to tell us why you decided to reveal this secret all of a sudden?' Kurogane asked impatiently when no one said anything.

'Kuro-tan you are so impatient.' Fay chirped.

'Shut up Flourite.' Kurogane said through gritted teeth. It was taking all of his self restraint to keep from drawing his sword and running those _things_ through with it. Vampires always got on his nerves and he did _not_ need the idiot to grind his nerves as well.

'Kuro-tan is so mean,' Fay pouted as he crossed his arms across his chest.

'Subaru, Kamui,' Yuuko addressed the vampire twins, 'please report what you have observed about the Coven's activities so far.'

'The members of the Coven have certainly become more active during the past few months,' Subaru said, 'their attacks are more frequent and the reason for that is not a shortage of food. They seem to be increasing their numbers. Out of all the attacks,' Subaru said seriously, 'only three fatalities have been reported so far.'

'Also two months ago,' Kamui picked up where his brother left, 'Ashura returned to the country with all the top members of the coven.'

'Ashura's return means only one thing,' Masooma said, 'he has found out the identity of the third source.'

'So he already knows about the first and the second?' Tomoyo asked with wide eyes.

Masooma nodded but did not say anything. Fay on the other hand lowered his head.

'Excuse me but what are the sources?' Syaoran asked politely. He had been listening to the conversation but so far he had not been able to make head or tail of it. Finally his curiosity had gotten the better of him. 'Why are they so important?'

'The sources Syaoran,' Yuuko replied, 'are basically normal people who are the possessors of some very rare and strong magical essences; which I guess makes them not so normal. Anyway there are three types, active, dormant and buried. These essences alone don't do anything at all which means that they are not anything that special.'

'Then why are you guys so worried about this Ashura and the Coven discovering about their identities?' Sakura asked.

'Because like I said alone they don't do much but once combined,' Yuuko replied, 'they are able to grant their wielder immunity and immortality.'

'Huh?' the teenagers' mouths fell open.

Sakura knew what Yuuko meant by immortality and immunity. She remembered Fay telling her about it once. According to some old legend, in ancient times, there used to be people who were born with the power of immunity or immortality. Immunity being that no matter how badly injured or wounded you were or how bad a disease affected you could never die of anything else but old age.

Immortality on the other hand meant the exact opposite that is the person would never age or grow old but could die of disease or injuries. Fay had also mentioned something about a very powerful witch who had gained both because she had combined the three basic essences. But that's what it was; some stupid old fairy tale and nothing else. There was no way someone was dull enough to actually believe that stuff.

'It's just a legend.' Syaoran was the one who spoke. So he knew about the story as well. 'Those two things are not possible. '

'Actually,' Masooma said with a knowing smile, 'they are very much possible. Kamui and Subaru themselves are living proof.'

'They both are immune,' Masooma completed the sentence for him. 'So they can't really die from anything else apart from old age, which,' she said with a teasing smirk in Kamui's direction, 'is a pity because I don't think I'll be rid of them anytime soon.' The vampire merely scowled in response.

'I hate to be the one to break this moment but,' Kurogane said glowering at Yuuko, 'you were telling us something about identities.'

'What is the coven?' Syaoran had asked at the same time.

'Hmm so I was,' Yuuko replied thoughtfully, 'but I think you should answer Syaoran first.'

'Fine,' Kurogane grunted impatiently, 'the coven is a large group of those things,' he nodded his head in the direction of the twins shamelessly at which he got a sharp look from Tomoyo. He merely shrugged in response, it's not like they had any feelings; those creatures were dead so they couldn't feel any emotions. 'And are lead by two bastards, namely Fei Wong Reed and Ashura. Fei's second in command is Xing Ho and Ashura's second in command doesn't have a name.'

'Fay.' Yuuko said shortly.

'Huh?' Kurogane looked at her with a raised brow.

'I said his name is Fay.' Yuuko repeated. 'Ashura's second in command.'

'What the hell are you talking about witch?' Kurogane asked.

'The names of the sources are Fay Valeria, Yuui Flourite and Tomoyo Daidouji.' Yuuko said simply without acknowledging that she had heard Kurogane's question.

Silence greeted these words. After what seemed like ages Sakura spoke up, 'Yuui Flourite? Who is that?' she was looking at Fay whose face was hidden behind his blond bangs because he seemed to be staring at his feet. (He had been, throughout the whole conversation.)

'Fay?' Sakura asked when she got no response from her adoptive brother.

'Me.' He sighed, still not looking up.

'What?' Syaoran, Kurogane and Sakura exclaimed at the same time.

'I am Yuui Flourite.' He said quietly.

'You better explain yourself Flourite.' Kurogane growled, 'and look at us when you are talking!'

'Fay is my brother's name,' Fay said still not looking at any of them. He knew he had deeply hurt the only person, apart from his twin, which he truly cared about. He did not want to see the look of utter shock or hurt or betrayal in those green eyes.

'Ashura has been hunting for the sources for a very long time and he had located the first two sources many years ago.' Masooma put a comforting hand on Fay's shoulder before continuing, 'he attacked Yuui and his twin while they were still kids and managed to convert Fay into a vampire.'

'One of the vampires of the coven,' she added quickly when she saw that Kurogane was about to say something.

'You say this as though if there is a difference between their kinds.' Kurogane snorted.

'There is actually,' Masooma replied, 'the vampires belonging to the Coven,' she said this in a very calm tone but they could all feel waves of cold anger emanating from her. It was something that made you want to grind your teeth and rip out your hair. 'Unlike normal vampires, do not posses a conscience. Their conscience is killed at the time of their transformation.' Anyone could tell this was a touchy subject with her.

'of course there are spells that could revive that dead conscience,' Yuuko added, 'but only a very strong magician or witch is able to perform that kind of magic and even then there are cases when things go wrong. Anywho we are not here to discuss that. What I called everyone here for,' she said her gaze travelling along the entire group, 'was to discuss the arrangements for Tomoyo's protection.'

'Tomoyo's protection?' Kurogane repeated with incredulity, 'if by that you mean assigning some vampires to look after her then in that case I'll say she's got all the protection she needs.' He cast a disgusted look in the twins' direction.

'We have better things to do then babysit your girlfriend, hunter.' Kamui said angrily as his pupils contracted and his eyes turned gold. Kurogane's hand traveled to his swords hilt and Kamui's nail grew longer and sharper as the two glared at each other.

'By protection Kurogane,' Yuuko said, 'I meant Masooma.'

'Your niece? She's just one girl.' Kurogane exclaimed, 'besides Tomoyo's got me and the kid to protect her.' He added ignoring the glare that Tomoyo was casting in his direction. Why was everyone out to get him today? Even his girlfriend wasn't listening to him. Yesterday he had to deal with a stupid meat bun and now vampires, an angsting idiot and a crazy witch were thrown at him? Why? What had he done to deserve this?

'Do you know why each vampire has a different aura?' Yuuko asked him calmly.

'Huh?' Kurogane was completely thrown off by this random question, what did it matter to him why they had different auras, as long as they had one it was good enough for him. 'I don't know. It shows their status or something.' He shrugged.

'Just goes to show your ignorance,' Yuuko smirked, 'what hunters, like you, usually observe about vampires is; the weaker the aura, the stronger the vampire. However in reality this is not the case. Each vampire's aura is initially the same,' Yuuko explained, 'and it is very strong I must add. But as a vampire grows stronger with the passage of time his aura grows weaker. In reality the aura is still as strong but the vampire has grown better at masking it or suppressing it.'

'Ashura and Fei Wang Reed along with their seconds in commands are extremely strong vampires,' she said, 'strong enough to actually be able to mask their auras completely making it impossible for normal humans to detect their presence.'

'So?' Kurogane asked indifferently, although this piece of information did unnerve him quite a lot.

'So where normal humans are unable to detect them before it's too late,' Yuuko replied, 'someone with powerful magic can pick up their presence even if completely masked. Masooma being related to me has some very strong magic and that is why she will accompany you and Tomoyo for the duration while we deal with the Coven.'

'Why just us? What about Flourite? I thought he was a source too.' Kurogane asked. Tomoyo sighed as she shook her head sadly. Kurogane could be really insensitive when he wanted to be. Couldn't he just shut up and listen for once?

' Yuui doesn't need an escort,' Yuuko replied, 'his magic is strong enough to detect a concealed vampire's presence.'

'Flourite is a magician?' Kurogane's mouth fell open.

'Please ignore him Yuuko.' Tomoyo said when she could no longer stand his stupid train of questions; he sure was acting like an idiot right now. Repeating each and every other word that anyone spoke, it reminded Tomoyo of a parrot that she had owned once.' is there anything else?'

'Yes,' Yuuko replied, 'I would like you and Sakura to please come with me back to my home. There are still somethings I need to tell you both.'

'What about him?' Sakura asked looking at Syaoran. 'Can he come?'

'I suppose,' Yuuko said thoughtfully, 'but Kurogane cant.' She said sneering at the said man, 'When we are done Masooma and the twins will drop you off at the Flourite residence.'

Kurogane opened his mouth to protest but Tomoyo cut in, 'I'll be fine Kurogane. Syaoran is going along so don't worry.'

Kurogane huffed angrily and walked out of the warehouse. Sakura cast one last glance in Fay's direction before sighing and walking after the others.

'Don't worry Fay,' Masooma said quietly as she removed her hand from his arm, he still wasn't looking up, 'she loves you too much to stay angry for long.'

Fay looked up to stare in her light brown eyes with an expression of disbelief.

'She will definitely forgive you.' Masooma smiled comfortingly before looking at the door where Kamui was clicking his tongue impatiently. 'Well I guess I have to go now.' She sighed as she gave him one last understanding smile and walked towards the waiting vampire.

_**A/N: now that you are done reading this chapter its time for the review. You better click on that button and start typing or else…(draws out Hein….)**_

_**Syaoran: is that… my sword???**_

_**Me: (hides it behind her back and looks around frantically) huh? What? Where?**_

_**Syaoran: (points toward the blade poking from one side) there! Hey give me my sword back.**_

_**Me: nooo…. (Runs away hugging the sword.)**_

_**Syaoran: (starts chasing her) give it back!**_

_**Kurogane, Sakura and Fay sweatdrop.**_

_**Kurogane: I can't believe she is the author of this fic. You do realize we are all doomed. This girl is crazy.**_

_**Me: (yells while running) I heard that! **_

_**Fay: (lands a punch on Kuro's head) he didn't mean that Nims. (Whispers to Kurogane) idiot, are you trying to get us killed?**_

_**Me: (glares in Kuro's direction who gets burnt to a crisp. Turns to face you all.) Why are you guys still here? Go on get to the review room. Come on move it people.**_

_**P.S: if you think it's getting too confusing or weird let me know. I'll try to clarify and correct the problems.**_


	13. Chapter 12

_**A/N: hey guys. It's my birthday today so I'm updating this chapter as my treat for you guys. Hope you like it.**_

"_You were lying to me?... What about my parents?...Yuui Flourite? Who is that?... Fay?"_

"_You better explain yourself Flourite"_

"…_don't posses a conscience …spells that could revive…"_

Snippets of the long conversation that he had earlier that night still rang through his head as he downed his twelfth bottle of sake. He stared at the almost empty bottle in his hand. Sighing to himself, he returned his gaze to the starry sky which he had been staring at ever since he had gotten back from the warehouse.

Miles away in Yuuko was busy explaining everything to Tomoyo, Sakura and Syaoran.

'I get the part about Ashura attacking my brother and his twin,' sakura said impatiently, 'what I want to know is,' she said looking straight at Yuuko, 'is Ashura the one who bit me? And did he kill my other brother?' by her other brother she had meant Touya.

'Yes Ashura was one of the vampires who bit you,' Yuuko replied, 'and your brother was not killed by any vampire.'

Seeing the confusion on Sakura's face Yuuko drew a small crystal vial from the sleeve of her kimono.

'This vial contains a very powerful potion,' Yuuko said holding it up for her to see, '. This is not something available to the common vampire hunters. Only the most elite amongst them, both your brothers included, are allowed to carry this around while hunting.'

'So?' Sakura said.

'It's made in such a way that it can nullify any vampire's abilities,' Yuuko replied, 'regardless of their strength, for about six hours at least. However if given to a normal human or a human at the time of transformation,' Yuuko said solemnly, 'it works like instant poison.'

Sakura's eyes widened as the realization struck her. _Touya had killed himself._ Syaoran put his arm around her comfortingly.

'Yuui vowed to your brother to never tell you anything about what happened that night,' Yuuko said, 'I just thought you would want to know that.' She said quietly as she and her three guests got up to leave. Sakura nodded to let the older woman know that she understood Yuuko's meaning.

'What are you going to do now?' Syaoran asked once they were all seated in the car and on their way back to Kashmir.

'Have a talk with him I suppose.' Sakura shrugged.

'_Yuui you need to understand this,' the man with mismatched eyes said in an urgent tone. He was talking to a young blond boy, apparently in his early teens. 'Ashura came after not only your brother but you as well. He's already converted Fay so you can't do anything to help him. The best thing that you can do now is run.'_

'_I won't run away.' The young teenager shook his head violently; blond locks seemingly sparkled in the sunlight with this action. His face was alight with emotions; determination and thirst for revenge were the two emotions most visible in those blue pools. _

'_And there is no way you will change your mind?' the man asked with a sigh as he ran a hand through his own dark hair._

_The boy shook his head once again. 'I can't.' he said firmly, 'not after what Fay did for me.'_

'_In that case,' the man said as he straightened up and stood at his full height; he had been crouching to the boy's level before now. 'I guess you will need some training.' He said turning to face the holographic projection of a red-eyed woman. The woman nodded before the image flickered and then faded completely. A white rabbit like creature jumped off the table and onto the boy's head._

'_Mokona will help too.' it exclaimed cheerfully._

'How much have you had to drink?' a gruff voice spoke from behind him.

'Not enough apparently.' The blond hunter replied soberly as he set down yet another bottle of sake.

'Holy BEEP!!! You have downed this much already and you say not much?!?' the raven haired man exclaimed as he walked upto the other man and sat down beside him.

'When you're a part vampire getting drunk is not that easy.' Fay chuckled as he grabbed another bottle and twisted the cap open.

'Stop right there. You've had more than e…nough???' Kurogane froze in mid grab with a look of horror on his face as Fay's words registered in his mind. 'Wait! _What_ did you say?' A single blue eye looked sideways to observe him.

'I said "when you're a part vampire getting drunk is not that easy" Kuro-tan.' Fay replied with a goofy grin.

'Why do you do that?' Kurogane asked in irritation.

'Do what Kuro-tan?' Fay asked innocently as he put the bottle to his lips, the grin still in place.

'Keep grinning like an idiot when you don't even feel like it?' Kurogane asked not even bothering to correct his name. Fay wasn't going to listen anyway.

'Why don't you ever let anyone know how you feel by hiding behind these fake smiles? Even that sister of yours can tell they aren't real.'

'I suppose that's because I don't want to involve others in my problems.' Fay replied indifferently, his voice so cold, Kurogane was surprised that the liquid in the other's hand wasn't frozen already.

'I don't know if keeping an eye covered all the time has made you blind or something, but,' Kurogane let his words hang for a while, 'if you look around you, a few _others_ might want to be involved in them.'

At first Fay did not react. Then slowly he put the bottle down and reached for the cloth that covered his eye and pulled it off. He turned head so that he was staring in Kurogane's crimson eyes with two mismatched eyes, hatred emanating from every fiber of his being. Kurogane drew in a sharp breath as he looked into that golden eye.

'It's scary isn't it Kurogane?' Fay spoke using the same cold tone but what made the chills creep down Kurogane's spine was not the tone Fay was using. It wasn't even that golden vampire like eye. No it was the way he spoke his name. It was downright creepy. Not only had the blond abandoned the idiotic nicknames, his tone had abandoned its humanity completely at that moment making Kurogane doubt whether if the man before him was the same fool who had offered him boarding in his house.

'This is what would happen to those others.' Fay whispered coldly, moving closer at the same time so that Kurogane could look at nothing else but those mismatched eyes. 'This is what happened to many others who got involved.' Fay said as he moved away again and covered his eye once more.

'I don't think I want it to happen to anyone else,' Fay said as he got up and walked to the very edge of the roof. 'Goodnight Kurogane.' He said as he peered over the edge, 'when she comes back please tell Sakura not to come after me.' With that he jumped off the roof and was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving Kurogane to think about what the part vampire blond had said.

_**After half an hour:**_

'You just let him go???' Masooma bellowed at Kurogane. Sakura, Syaoran and Tomoyo were standing behind her. They had arrived only a few minutes ago when Kurogane had relayed the message to all of them in general while asking who the hell this Sakura was.

'Did any of the talk we had in the warehouse tonight even make it through that thick skull of yours?' she asked angrily, 'I can't believe this! You just let Fay go on his own, _knowing_ that the entire Coven is after him?'

'Hey! I am not responsible for that idiot's actions,' Kurogane yelled in the same tone, 'if you are so worried about him then why don't you go look for him, huh? Don't take your anger out on me.'

'That is exactly what I am going to do.' Masooma replied walking past the crimson eyed hunter, 'Subaru you stay here with Tomoyo,' she addressed the vampire, 'Kamui you come with me.'

'That _thing_ doesn't need to stay.' Kurogane growled. 'Tomoyo will be fine with me.' Hearing this Tomoyo sighed and shook her head. Kurogane really needed to get over this vampire problem of his.

'Kurogane Yuouo Suwa,' Masooma said authoritatively, 'it would be better for you if you keep your mouth shut and leave the security to me because frankly speaking you suck at that job.' And without waiting for his response Masooma left the room with Kamui. Sakura ran after her, 'wait! I'm coming with you two.' She said determinedly.

'No you're not.' Masooma replied, 'Fay told you to stay here. Trust me; it would be better if you listen to him.'

'But…' Sakura started worriedly .

'Don't worry; we'll bring him back to you in one piece.' Masooma cut in as she raised her hand and wrote in the air. Bright red runes glowed for a while before enveloping Masooma and Kamui. The symbols swirled and then vanished, leaving behind no trace of those two. And Sakura was left standing alone in a comparatively darker courtyard.

_**Meanwhile:**_

Fay kept walking without really looking where he was going. His feet moved of their own accord and he found himself near one of the places which he had not visited for more than 13 years.

He found himself standing near the edge of a very steep cliff; overlooking the entire valley of Kashmir. The city stretched out below him like an ocean of stars. He stood there for quite a while gazing in the distance but not really seeing anything. He held a silver staff in one hand, its tip was made of a pointed sapphire which served the purpose of a stake; glinted in the moonlight. Subconsciously his grip tightened on it when he sensed a faint aura closeby.

'I should have known you would be here.' someone breathed down his neck. In a flash Fay turned around and threw the person on the ground using his staff. He twirled the staff around in such a way that the sapphire stake was resting inches from the other person's heart.

_**A/N: **__A____thanks to all those who have added my story to their alerts and favorites. I really appreciate it._

_**Kurogane: So who is it that the idiot is about to kill?**_

_**Me: How would I know?**_

_**Kurogane: (in disbelief) Are you sure you're writing this thing on your own? You not copying someone else's work, right?**_

_**Me: (indignantly) Of course I am.**_

_**Kurogane: (o-O) Copying from someone else?**_

_**Me: NO! This is one hundred percent work of my own imagination.**_

_**Kurogane: Then how come you don't know who it is?**_

_**Me: I know who it is but I'm not telling you. You'll find out in the next chapter. As for you readers out there I got something to say. First of a big thanks to all those who have been reviewing and to those of you who haven't…**_

_**Come on guys. Review. Pretty pleeease with cherries on top? (Fay is in the review room giving free hugs and birthday cakes.)**_


	14. Chapter 13

_**A/N: **__hey everybody. Here's the next chappie. Oh by the way since the real Fay makes an entrance in this chapter I'll be calling our Fay by his real name i.e. Yuui and his twin is Fay. I told you that so it doesn't cause any confusion._

'So you finally managed to throw me off my feet, Yuui.' The man on the ground said fearlessly. He smirked slightly as he said this, looking straight into his twin's single eye.

'So why did you come to this place?' the vampire asked with the same arrogant smirk plastered on his face, 'finally plucked enough courage to come hunt for me?'

'I always thought that there might have been a way to save you,' Yuui said quietly, 'but I guess I was wrong afterall. You are nothing but a monster.' The blond hunter said as he thrust the staff forward meaning to pierce through the vampire's heart.

'Monster?' the vampire repeated as he quickly evaded the staff and jumped to his feet, 'why, thank you Yuui, I'll take that as a compliment.'

Yuui scowled at the vampire before thrusting the stake in his direction once more. Fay dodged it with ease and aimed a kick towards the other but Yuui blocked it using his staff; then he twirled the staff around so that the stake was in the vampire's direction and attacked once again.

'You claim that the only goal in your life is to kill me,' Fay said, dodging each and every one of the attacks Yuui threw in his direction, 'but you're not putting any heart in trying to achieve it. You know what your problem is Yuui?' He asked casually as he sent Yuui flying into a sakura tree with a well placed kick, 'you're too much of a coward to actually do anything.' Fay said as he walked upto Yuui and crouched near his twin, 'you always were.' He whispered in his ear.

The blond hunter's visible eye widened for a second before he managed to cover up his shock behind a mask of anger and hatred.

'Shut up.' Yuui hissed.

'Why?' Fay smirked as he straightened, 'did I make my little brother mad? Deal with it Yuui.' Fay said calmly, 'the truth always hurts.'

Yuui jumped to his feet and swung the staff in the direction of the vampire's knee. Fay leapt over it gracefully, smiling in amusement, landing behind Yuui. The hunter turned around just in time to dodge Fay's elongated nails. A stinging sensation crept up Yuui's left arm, looking down Yuui realized that even after he had jumped out of the way, Fay still managed to cut him on his arm. His reactions were slower than usual. It took Yuui some time to figure out the reason behind that. A gasp escaped from his throat as Fay's foot connected with Yuui's chest, forcing him back towards the tree.

Yuui cursed himself mentally for drinking so much. The intoxicating effects of the 3 dozen bottles of sake had finally started to settle in.

'Drinking is not good for your health Yuui.' Fay said as he licked the blood off his nails; his eyes were no longer blue. They had turned a bright golden yellow color. Yuui shook his head to clear the light headedness. Fay swung his arm quickly to land a blow on Yuui's throat which he avoided by spinning out of the way, bringing his staff along with full force to hit the vampire on his head. A satisfying thunk informed Yuui that it had met its target.

'Ouch! That hurt!' Fay exclaimed childishly before he struck, aiming a kick towards Yuui's chest. The said man dodged it by jumping backwards, and as he landed, Fay darted forward again. This time thrusting his hand in the direction of Yuui's heart. Yuui managed to block the attack somewhat clumsily.

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'Where the hell is he?' Kamui grumbled irritatedly, 'we have searched everywhere.'

'Not everywhere kid,' Masooma replied looking around the empty street.

'Kid???' Kamui exclaimed, 'how young do you think I am?'

'I don't know,' Masooma shrugged as she walked ahead, 'you seem to be twenty.'

'Twenty?' Kamui repeated.

'Yeah.' Masooma nodded, 'that's two years younger than me... So you're a kid.'

'I am atleast four times that age.' Kamui said indignantly.

'So?' she said indifferently with a smirk, 'you're still a kid by vampire standards.'

Before Kamui could retort though, Masooma turned around, 'this leaves only one place where he might be.'

'Which is?' Kamui asked impatiently.

'The cemetery.' Masooma replied.

'But Fay never goes there.' Kamui said.

'There is no harm in checking is there?' Masooma stated simply.

'I guess not.' Kamui sighed as he followed the raven-haired girl.

They could hear sounds of a fight going on in the cemetery as they approached it.

'Looks like he's got company up there,' Masooma said quickening her pace when she picked up an almost perfectly concealed aura.

'And not a very good one by the sounds of it.' Kamui said as he sprinted after her.

The twins were fighting near the old sakura tree at some distance from the cemetery and Yuui was losing badly. His clothes were torn and blood was seeping from his wounds. The black cloth which usually covered his eye lay abandoned as well.

'Stop right there.' Kamui said in a dangerous voice as he pointed the loaded crossbow towards the vampire who was about to sink his fangs in Yuui's flesh.

Fay looked in the direction of the voice and lifted two fingers from which bright golden runes started appearing.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you.' Masooma said as she started writing a spell in the air as well.

'Ah the cavalry has arrived,' Fay smiled moving his face away from Yuui's neck, 'how's the hunting going Masooma?' He asked calmly. 'Found your best friend yet?'

'Shut up and move away from him.' Masooma snarled.

'Of course,' Fay said pleasantly letting go of Yuui who fell in a heap. 'I need to be getting back to work anyways.' He said as he wrote a transportation spell in the air which glowed a golden shade before swirling around him and taking him to where ever he had wanted to go.

Kamui and Masooma hurried over to Yuui's injured form. He was barely conscious. Kamui and Masooma pulled him off the ground and supported his limp form while Masooma wrote a transportation spell. The runes glowed red before engulfing the three and vanishing altogether.

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'_Yuui run!' Fay yelled as he jumped in front of him and the approaching vampire, 'get out of here!'_

'_Fay!' The younger twin yelled as the vampire named Ashura caught hold of the said child._

'_Go!' Fay yelled once more as he tried to fight the vampire off. Golden runes appeared before him which blasted in the vampires face._

'_I can't leave you here.' Yuui said stubbornly as he began writing out a spell too. This time the runes were blue in color. Unfortunately before the spell was written out completely though, another vampire caught hold of Yuui. This one was big and bulky and had a double chin. He also wore a monocle which would have looked very funny, had it not been the deadly situation the twins were stuck in._

'_There will be none of this, brat.' The bulky double chinned vampire said in a raspy voice as he spoke something in a foreign language. Red ribbons of magic emerged from the air which wrapped around Yuui's arms and torso. As a result the blue runes of the half written spell started vanishing, 'that's better.' The vampire smirked contentedly._

_Just then a scream pierced through the night._

'_Fay!!!'_

Yuui bolted upright and sat quickly. He was breathing heavily and his entire body as covered in cold sweat. He blinked a couple of time as he took in his surroundings, he was in his room. He looked down and saw that he was no longer bleeding and neither was he wearing torn clothes. All the cuts had been cleaned and bandaged.

"It was just a dream." Yuui thought as he tried to keep himself from shivering.

'Oh my gosh! Are you alright? Why did you scream?' Sakura asked quickly as she burst through the door. Her eyes were wide with fear and concern.

'I'm fine,' Yuui responded bluntly. 'It was just a nightmare.'

Something hit him hard on his head. Looking down at the fallen weapon he realized that Kurogane, who had entered behind sakura, had just thrown a pillow at him, 'you're one lucky idiot, Flourite,' he said gruffly.

Syaoran, Tomoyo and Masooma came in next.

'Yeah,' syaoran nodded, 'it's a good thing they found you in time.'

'We were so worried about you.' Tomoyo also spoke up. 'Why did you leave like that?'

'I needed sometime alone to think.' Yuui mumbled in response.

'Time alone to get yourself killed more like.' Kurogane said. 'Ouch!' he cried because Tomoyo had just stepped on his foot.

'We'll be outside if you need anything Fay.' Tomoyo said quickly ushering everyone through the door except Sakura.

Fay knew she had stayed behind yet he pretended that he had not noticed that. Instead he started observing his own hands very intently.

Sakura fidgeted a little before she finally gathered enough courage to speak.

'Fay, why aren't you looking at me?' She finally asked as she seated herself on his bed. 'Ever since you told me in the warehouse, you haven't even glanced in my direction.'

'I thought you wouldn't want me to.' Fay replied quietly.

'What?!?' Sakura exclaimed as she almost jumped onto him. 'Why would I want that?'

'I've been lying to you for more than two years,' Fay said finally looking up to meet her gaze.

'So?' Sakura asked with an air of indifference. 'Look I know you're feeling guilty for hurting me and all...' She added quickly, 'but you shouldn't be. It's okay.'

Fay looked at her in disbelief. Was she serious? Why was she acting like it was no big deal?

'You were only doing what Touya asked you to.' She explained as though if she had read his mind, 'it would be great if I could remember him… but' she assed quickly, 'if you think I'll be mad at the only family I have for not telling me about the family I can't remember anymore, then think again.'

'Sakura…' Fay started hoarsely as he looked at the girl but she cut him in.

'Oh and next time you decide to drink like an idiot,' she said admonishingly, 'I will kill you.' Her glare turned to a soft and concerned look once again, 'What the hell were you thinking?' she said softly, 'you could have gotten yourself killed tonight. You might be tougher than normal human beings, thanks to being a part vampire, but your brother is a complete vampire.'

'You know about that too?' Fay asked. He was sure he had never told her about him being a part vampire.

'Yeah,' Sakura nodded. 'Yuuko told me everything.'

'So… so you're not… mad at me?' Fay asked hesitantly. He couldn't believe it. Sakura was taking everything so calmly. She was not showing any anger towards him even when he had lied to her for so long. Despite everything that she had said Fay still couldn't believe it. How could she have forgiven him so easily? Shouldn't she be shouting at him? Telling him that what he had done was wrong? Shouldn't she hate him for keeping her in the dark?

'Not anymore.' She shook her head and hugged him tightly. 'You have done so much for me, like a real brother.' she spoke into his chest. 'And I can't stay mad at my brother for long now, can I?'

'Oh Sakura.' He breathed in her hair, taking in the warmth of her hug, as relief washed over him. _She still cares about me_. He returned the hug, as tears of happiness started rolling down his cheeks, 'thank you.'

_**A/N: **__there you have it. A happy ending…._

_**Random dude: **__Huh? It finished? Well that sure was pointless._

_**Me: **__Excuse me?___

_**Random dude: **__You heard me. It was pointless._

_**Me: **__Who the heck are you to say it was pointless? It was great._

_**Kurogane: **__I agree with the Random dude. You just finished writing this pointless story and I didn't even get a chance to slay any vampires. What am I even doing here?_

_**Me: (glares at Kurgy.)**____You got to slay a vampire in the very first chapter. And I never said I'm finished with this fic._

_**Kurogane:**__ Liar. You just said so yourself. _

_**Me:**__ I just said "a happy ending."_

_**Random dude: **__o-O And isn't that supposed to mean that it's finished?_

_**Me: **__(exasperated) It means this chapter is finished._

_**Random dude: **__Oh. Well I still think it was pointless._

_**Me:**__ Like I care about what you think Random dude? I care about what the characters of my story think. Right guys?_

_**Random dude:**__ Whatever. (Walks away)_

_**Kurogane:**__ Still pointless._

_**Tomoyo:**__ Hurray!!! Sakura forgave Fay._

_**Syaoran:**__ Sakura wait… (Everyone turns to see sakura who is running after the Random dude. "Take me with you. I need to get out of here.)_

_**Everyone:**__ X-X_

_Ahem. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this. Reviews will let me know you did. By the way I'm thinking of torturing Kuro for the sake of our enjoyment ;)_

_Ideas would be welcomed and served cookies and milk._


	15. Chapter 14

_**A/N: whoohoo. Finally Eid holidays are here. Meaning I get free time to sleep, be lazy and do nothing all day long. No wait… I just remembered I have accumulated a really long list of assignments that I have to do. Oh well. I still have an entire week for that so I'll worry about that later. Right now I think I'll let you guys read something with lesser amounts of angst as compared to the rest of my story.**_

'It's good to see you're up and about.' Tomoyo smiled as Fay walked out of his room the next morning, fully dressed.

'Yeah well I have a cafe to run so...' Fay laughed.

'But you're not gonna work there alone.' Masooma said quickly as she set the table for breakfast, 'Kurogane is going with you.' She said with a smirk in the said man's direction.

'What?!?' The crimson-eyed hunter choked on the juice that he was drinking. 'I am not going to work in some stupid shop with an idiot like him!' He yelled as he flailed his arms angrily. 'And there is nothing you can do to make me.' He finished, pointing a fork in Masooma's direction.

'Easy Kurgs,' Masooma said holding up her hands in defense but grinned even wider, 'this was your girlfriend's idea.'

Kurogane looked at Tomoyo in disbelief.

'Well Masooma agreed to help me in shopping,' Tomoyo replied, correctly interpreting his expression, 'and Kamui and Syaoran are gone with Sakura so you were the only person available to go with Fay.'

'What about that other vampire?' Kurogane asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

'Gone to Auntie's.' Masooma replied.

'Whatever.' Kurogane huffed, 'I am not going to be this idiot's guardian.'

'Aww.' Fay pouted cutely, 'Kuro-tan is too scared to confront any vampires.'

'I am not scared of any vampires.' Kurogane yelled indignantly.

'In that case you should have no problem in accompanying Fay.' Masooma said slyly.

'Thanks for agreeing Kurogane,' Tomoyo pecked him on his cheek quickly; 'if you had refused I might have had to cancel my shopping trip.' She said looking at him with shining eyes.

Kurogane wanted to yell that he had not agreed but Tomoyo was looking at him in such an adorable way that he couldn't find it in his heart to say no.

'How long do I have to suffer?' Kurogane asked through gritted teeth. Damn that blond idiot and damn that annoying niece for making his life miserable before but now Tomoyo had joined them too. What had he ever done to deserve this?

'Hyuu. Kuro-tan is braver than I thought.' Fay said clapping his hands like a child.

Using all the will power that Kurogane possessed he stopped himself from murdering the stupid hunter right then and there. He was already having second thoughts about sacrificing his sanity for the sake of Tomoyo's happiness.

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This is going to be _such_ a long day. Kurogane groaned as Fay clung to his arm once more as they walked towards the cafe. He had to park his jeep a few streets away because of the blockades placed on the road for some unknown reason.

'Can you stop latching yourself to my arm like that?' Kurogane growled as a group of passersby gave them weird looks once more. 'Act your age for once Flourite.' He said prying his arm free from the blonds' grasp.

'Now where's the fun in that?' Fay asked cheerfully.

Kurogane looked at the smaller man with narrowed eyes. Was he the same as the one Kurogane had talked to on the roof the previous night? He had been so angsty and depressed back then so how could someone be so happy all of a sudden?

'What's wrong Kuro-tan?' Fay asked when he noticed the other staring at him.

'Are you sure you didn't hit your head somewhere last night?' Kurogane asked.

'Hmmm?' Fay looked confused for a second before he grinned widely, 'Kurgy is worried about me?' His grin changed to a look of pure innocence in a fraction of a second.

'I am not worried about an idiot.' Kurogane replied as he watched Fay unlock the door to the cafe.

'Then why did you ask?' Fay said as he walked inside.

'Because your mood is totally different from last night,' Kurogane said as he followed him, 'it's not normal.'

'Oh.' Fay breathed as a look of surprise flashed across his visage before he turned his back towards Kurogane and walked towards the double doors and vanished behind them.

'So?' Kurogane asked.

'So what Kuro-tan?' Fay asked from the other side of the double doors.

'What's with the sudden change of attitude?'

'I guess you could say I came to terms with somethings.' Fay replied as he returned through the doors waving one hand carelessly. In his other hand he was carrying something that looked very much like an apron. 'Here.' He said as he dumped it into Kurogane's arms, 'put it on.'

'What the hell is this?' Kurogane asked holding it up to his face.

'It's called an apron. You put it on like this.' Fay explained as he donned one himself.

'And why the hell would I want to wear an apron you stupid mage?' Kurogane asked through narrowed eyes.

'Didn't Miss Tomoyo tell you?' Fay asked in surprise although he knew perfectly well that Tomoyo had not told him whatever it was that Kurogane was supposed to know.

'She didn't tell me anything except that I was supposed to come here and guard your worthless ….'

'Really? I'm sure she said she had told you and you had agreed to help.' Fay pouted.

'Agreed to what?' Kurogane asked suspiciously.

'Agreed to help me run the café of course.' Fay said simply as though if it was no big deal. 'Now hurry up and put it on. I have to open the cafe in an hour's time.'

'I am not going to wear this.' Kurogane huffed as he threw the white apron back at Fay.

'Of course you are.' Fay laughed as he dumped it back in his hands with a laugh, 'sakura is not here to help me today and I have a really big order for today so I guess you will have to do her job instead.'

'By the way,' Fay said casually as he headed back into the kitchen, 'I heard you are a very good cook.'

'Who gave you that idea?' Kurogane asked in an annoyed manner.

'Miss Tomoyo was telling me about it a couple of days ago.' He replied as he opened various cabinets and pulled out the ingredients for baking cakes.

'Whatever.' Kurogane headed back to the other side of those double doors and sat down on one of the tables. He realized he was still holding that apron which Fay had bestowed upon him. So what if the idiot had a big order? If he thought that Kurogane was going to help him then Fay was mistaken. It was true that Kurogane knew how to cook, well he had to; who wouldn't if they had to grow up on their own with no one around to look after them; but he was _the_ Kurogane Yuouo Suwa, he wasn't going to don an apron and help an annoying idiot run a cafe. His manly pride would never allow him to do that.

Working in a kitchen was for sissies and this vampire hunter was _not_ a sissy.

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'Stupid blond idiot.' Kurogane muttered as he chopped the onions, tears streaming from his stinging eyes, 'stupid cook and his sudden illness.' he sniffed grabbing another onion and began chopping it. This was the worst day in his life. Not only was he babysitting an excessively annoying and irritating idiot, he was also being forced to work as a chef for the said idiot and he idiot wasn't even getting paid for it. Not that Kurogane would have done either of those two things for any amount of money but it would have been nice if he got something out of them now that he was doing the jobs anyway.

He dumped the onion into the frying pan and looked around for the soya sauce. It was nowhere to be found even though he was sure he had put it just by the counter. He adjusted the flame on low and walked towards the double doors.

"Flourite must have put it somewhere the last time he came in here." Kurogane thought angrily as he rubbed his eyes. His eyes were still stinging thanks to all the onions that he had to chop. He was almost by the double doors when something came under his foot and _whaaa!!!_ Off he went flying straight through the doors and landing flat on his back as the cylindrical object slipped out from beneath his foot. If this wasn't injuring his already damaged pride, the swinging double doors definitely did when they collided with his head.

Everyone had turned silent to gape at Kurogane. (Cricket chirps in the distance)…. His eyes were bloodshot with tears streaming down his face

He definitely looked funny and the entire cafe would have laughed at the sight that he was; had it not been for the murderous scowl present on his face. As his scowl deepened at the grin on Fay's face, the customer closest to him feared for his safety and gulped noisily because it was evident that Kurogane was ready to kill. But Fay, being the fearless man that he was, had no such concerns for his well being. Chuckling loudly, Fay moved forward and offered his hand to Kurogane to help him up.

Kurogane slapped the hand away and jumped to his feet in a fluid movement.

'What happened Kuro-tan?' Fay asked in a concerned voice, 'why were you trying to practice your roller-blading skills on this bottle of soya sauce?' He asked innocently; despite the devilish gleam in his eye, Fay pulled it off with ease.

Kurogane was boiling with rage but before he could come up with a reply the door to the cafe opened and a young man, who must have been in his early twenties, walked in.

'Fay thanks for letting me take the day off man,' he said happily, 'I had really wanted to go to that concert.'

'Did he just say concert?' Kurogane asked Fay, his eye had started to twitch.

'Oh, you must be the substitute cook,' the man asked when he noticed Kurogane in the white apron, 'Kuro... puppy right?' He asked with a grin. 'I'm Fuuma.' Fuuma extended his hand for a shake.

'My name is Kurogane.' The hunter replied through gritted teeth, a vein could be clearly seen throbbing in his temple.

'Oh,' Fuuma said awkwardly, retracting his hand when Kurogane did not shake it.

'But Kuro-puppy suites him just fine.' Fay grinned widely, 'after all he does look like an angry little puppy, ne?'

Kurogane's eye twitched madly. 'What did you say, you (BEEP)!!!' he growled as his hand clutched the hilt of his sword. (Yes he had his sword with him even while he was cooking. He still had to do his job.)

'Please Kuro-tan,' Fay said in mock horror, 'mind your language. This fan fiction is just k+ rated.'

Everyone else in the cafe plus the author sweat dropped.

'Huh?!?!'

'Well it is.' Fay said defensively when everyone turned to stare at him.

_**Me: ahem yeah well the author's note hasn't started yet so you **__**can't**__** tell him that **__**Fay**__**. Now please proceed with the story as **_**I**** wrote it**** and don't stray from the actual thing.**_** Alright then... Aaannd action. **_

Fay pouted before he turned his attention back to the storyline.

'I said you look like an angry puppy Kuro-tan.' Fay said innocently.

'You are going to regret that Flourite.' Kurogane said as the twitching got ten times worse.

'Now why would I do that Kuro-pup?' Fay asked in the same innocent tone, he sniffed the air, 'your onions are getting burnt.'

'I am not cooking for you, bastard.' Kurogane yelled drawing his sword, 'I. am. going. to. kill. you.' He said as he swiped the sword at Fay with each word but the blond dodged each attack with ease and grace.

'Fuuma please take care of everything till I get back.' Fay called out behind him as he ran out of the cafe with Kurogane at his heels.

Everyone gaped at the door before returning their attention back to their food. Kurogane chased after the laughing blond shouting a loud stream of curses and threats but he could not catch up with him. "He can run really fast when he wants to." Kurogane thought as Fay turned a corner and vanished out of sight. "But I better find him before those things do."

Kurogane swore loudly when a familiar chill crept down his spine. Speak of the devil. 'Where are you Flourite?' he shouted looking around frantically for the familiar blond head. He ran down the length of another street and still saw no sign of Fay. Had he vanished into thin air? What was Kurogane supposed to tell the others? The vampires kidnapped the idiot while I was chasing him in the marketplace like an idiot myself?

He skidded to a halt next to an alley. Kurogane breathed a sigh of relief. There he was. Fay was standing next to a garbage can looking at something.

'Oye Flourite! Get over here.' Kurogane growled as he advanced towards him but stopped when he realized what Fay was looking at. An involuntary shudder ran down his entire body. There, stood before him, a woman wearing dark robes and a hood pulled over her head. She shook her head and threw back the hood to expose her face. Her skin was pale and her hair, a sleek onyx despite the tight curls. She was smiling at Fay as though if she had just found he long lost brother.

'Hello Kurogane.' She said pleasantly as Kurogane drew his sword and got into a fighting stance. Cautiously Kurogane edged his way closer to Fay not taking his eyes off the vampire before him.

'No need to be alarmed just yet.' She said as her hand moved towards the sleeve of her robes. 'I didn't come out in the sun to fight you two. I just wanted to return something that belongs to a friend of mine.' She said as she pulled out a silver chain. A pale pink crystal hung from it. 'Could you please return it?' she threw it in Fay's direction, who caught it with one hand.

'What do you want?' Fay asked in a coldly. Another shiver ran down Kurogane's spine. It was like the whole world had instantly frozen.

'No need to be so cold Yuui.' The woman smiled in a captivating way. 'Just give this to the vampire… hunter who goes around by the name of Masooma these days. Tell her I'm back and really looking forward to seeing her.'

Fay and Kurogane gaped at the vampire. 'What the heck are you talking about?' Kurogane asked.

'She'll know what I'm talking about when she gets that chain.' The vampire smiled and raised her hand. A magic circle appeared beneath her feet.

'By the way,' she said as her body started vanishing in wisps of rainbow colored smoke, 'I'll be seeing you and the third source in three days time Yuui.' and with that she vanished.

_**A/N: so how was it? Good? Bad? Or lame? Drop by the review room and let me know. **_


	16. Chapter 15

'She said you would know what she was talking about.' Kurogane said quietly. He was currently seated in the living room with Tomoyo, Fay, Masooma and the twin vampires. Masooma's gaze shifted back to the silver chain in her hand. After staring at the pink crystal for quite some time she finally spoke, 'we need to get Tomoyo out of here.'

'Out of here?'

'Before morning.' Masooma nodded.

'Why?' Subaru asked looking confused.

'Tomoyo do you remember that website you had visited a few days back?' Masooma asked solemnly not averting her gaze from the crystal locket, 'the one which had some details about the rituals involving the sources?'

'Yeah?' Tomoyo asked, 'Why? What's wrong?'

'Well the best time to perform that ritual is three nights from now.' Masooma spoke still entranced by the piece of jewelry in her hand, 'They're going to come for the sources before then. Meaning it would be better if you and Fay are not in one place.'

'But where can we possibly take her?' Subaru asked.

'I know about plenty of safe places where we can go but no vampires are going to accompany us.' Kurogane said quietly.

'I know you hate vampires, we hate you just as much,' Kamui growled angrily, 'but unfortunately we have a duty to fulfill and you wont get in our way.'

'Oh yeah?' Kurogane said heatedly as his hand moved towards his sword. 'Watch me.'

'Kuro-tan, Kamui both of you calm down.' Fay said cheerfully, 'we shouldn't fight amongst ourselves.'

'He's right.' Tomoyo agreed.

'I think it would be best if Yuuko decided who was to accompany whom.' Subaru stated simply.

'I am not listening to that witch.' Kurogane said arrogantly.

'Shut up Kurogane.' Masooma snapped all of a sudden finally tearing her gaze away from the chain in her hand, she glared at the crimson eyed hunter, 'I am sick and tired of you and your arrogance. Don't you get it? It is not upto you anymore. You can't decide how to protect your girlfriend anymore. That right was taken from you the minute you had contacted Yuuko. So shut up already.'

Kurogane was not the only one who was taken aback by her sudden outburst. Everyone in the room looked at her with their mouths hanging open. It was true they had not known her for a very long time but during all the years that they had been acquainted none of the people gathered in that living room had ever seen her lose control like this. Masooma was usually very calm and composed no matter what she was faced with. (Kurogane and Tomoyo knew her because of Yuuko and Kamui, Subaru and Fay had worked with her for quite some time.)

Masooma seemed to have realized this because the next minute she said in a much softer tone, 'look I know you're worried about her but so is everyone else. Don't make it harder than it already is.' When he did not say anything she continued, 'please excuse me for some time. I have to discuss this with aunty.' And without waiting for anyone's response she walked out of the room subconsciously clutching the silver necklace.

'She says that Kurogane and Syaoran are to guard Fay,' Masooma declared as she re-entered the room some ten minutes later, 'while Kamui, Sakura and Subaru are going to escort Tomoyo to safety.' Fay noticed that she was wearing the silver chain around her neck now.

'Are you okay with this Tomoyo?' Kurogane asked gruffly. She just nodded slightly, letting him know that she did not have any problems with two vampires being in charge of her safety.

'What will _you_ do?' Kamui asked eyeing her very closely.

'Buy you guys some time,' she said simply even though her gaze was distant, 'and settle a score with an old friend.' She added in an undertone as a dangerous look flashed in her eyes for a nano second.

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'Okay so I'll go with you guys till the outskirts of the city,' Masooma told the group of people standing outside Flourite residence almost fifteen minutes later. The sun had already set ages ago and it was quite dark right then since it was a cloudy night and chances were that it was going to rain. The wind beat against their faces a bit ferociously.

Each person was armed with atleast one type of weapon. Kamui and Subaru had identical crossbows, Kurogane and Syaoran had their swords, Sakura had two stakes, and Tomoyo had her gun whereas Masooma had strapped twin stiletto daggers to her waist. Fay wore a small leather pouch, which held a large number of darts, on his waist.

'There we will separate and go to the designated locations.' She finished. Tomoyo, Syaoran, Kurogane and Sakura got in Kurogane's jeep whereas Kamui, Subaru, Masooma and Fay got in the car.

They drove out of the city in silence. When they were almost near the suburbs the cars stopped. It was time to leave the vehicles, switch and regroup.

'Good luck,' Masooma said quietly as Fay summoned his staff which had a gigantic, pointed sapphire tip which could be used as a stake. Syaoran and Kurogane eyed the staff for a while before Kurogane nodded at the blond.

'Time to move,' he grunted and started to hurry to the western side of the city.

'Kurogane,' Tomoyo called after him.

The said hunter stopped walking and turned to face her. She walked upto him and pecked him lightly, 'be safe.' She whispered as she pulled away and walked back to her escort team.

'If even one hair is harmed on her head,' Kurogane growled at Subaru who was nearest to him, 'immune or not, I am going to kill you two myself.'

'We'll do everything in our power to keep her safe.' Subaru smiled sadly.

'Hurry up you guys,' Masooma said impatiently, 'the sooner you move, the better.'

'Masooma ….,' Fay said looking at the raven-haired girl with a single visible concerned blue eye, 'take care of yourself.' She just nodded slightly letting him know she had heard him. 'You too.'

With that the groups started towards their destinations. Fay, Kurogane and Syaoran towards the ruins in the west and Tomoyo, Sakura and Subaru towards the east.

'Why aren't you going with them Kamui?' Masooma asked a bit puzzled when she noticed that the greyish blue eyed vampire had stayed behind.

'You're going to need help even if you just have to buy the others some time,' Kamui stated simply, 'this is the coven you will be facing tonight.'

Masooma looked at him with narrowed eyes for a while as she observed the young vampire before she finally shook her head and smiled. Her hand glowed for an instance as she placed it on his arm.

'What did you do?' Kamui asked suspiciously as the spot where she had touched him tingled and grew warm.

'It's a protective seal,' Masooma replied withdrawing her hand, 'it will help you keep your head straight.'

'There's nothing wrong with my mind.' Kamui said rubbing the spot slightly.

'The higher members of the coven can control other vampires through magic,' Masooma said quietly, 'this seal prevents them for taking over your mind because once you are under their control, you can never break free. Not even if the vampire who took you under his control gets killed. You continue obeying the last commands given by the controller' She looked at him and smirked, 'and I definitely don't want to slay a kid.'

'I am not a kid.' Kamui huffed as he folded his arms and pouted knowing that she was joking.

'Whatever you say,' Masooma smirked as she put her hands at the back of her head and started walking towards the car. She leaned against it and closed her eyes in a carefree way.

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'So where are we going?' Tomoyo asked curiously as she followed the vampire and the hunter quietly along the deserted road.

'She just told us to get away from the city.' Sakura replied, 'didn't say where we should go. She said that she could not know where we were going for the sake of your own safety.'

'Oh.' Was Tomoyo's response. Well that was stupid. Masooma had made them leave the city without telling them where to go? And she didn't even want to know where they were going herself? How the hell was she going to contact the three of them if she did not know where they were?

Tomoyo thought about such things for quite some time when it finally hit her. Magic! That was why Masooma had acted this way. The coven could use magic to extract information about her whereabouts from Masooma and she was trying to prevent that. But the coven could not do such a thing unless they captured Masooma first. Was that even possible? Masooma was the strongest magician she knew. How could anyone dare to hope that they had a chance against the vampire hunter? If Masooma was taking such measures did that mean that the coven stood that chance? Did it mean that the coven could _actually_ beat Masooma?

'How strong are the members of the coven?' Tomoyo asked no one in particular. It was true she had heard about the strength of the coven before, heck Tomoyo had even researched on them for several months but in the end Tomoyo always felt that her knowledge was not enough. She needed the opinions of other hunters.

'they are very strong because unlike normal vampires,' Subaru replied calmly, 'they don't have any morals holding them back from showing a more savage side to the world. A few normal vampires are able to match their strength.'

'I see.' Tomoyo nodded before she stiffened. An involuntary shudder ran down her entire body which had nothing to do with the cold wind beating against her exposed arms and legs. (She was wearing a skirt and sleeveless top.) Subaru and Sakura also noticed the inhuman presence around them. The three of them drew their weapons as a dozen or so vampires emerged from the darkness.

'Hand over the source,' a silky female voice said, 'and we might lessen the amount of pain inflicted on the remaining two.'

'I wish I could have said the same for you guys leaving but unfortunately for you,' Sakura said getting in a fighting stance, 'I wont be letting any demons escape alive tonight.'

'Aww. That is so cute.' Another female vampire spoke in mock baby voice, 'the little hunter thinks she can beat us.'

'She's not the only one,' Tomoyo said leveling her gun with the head of the vampire who had spoken.

'I guess the other two have a death wish.' A third vampire, this time a male, spoke.

'We'll just see who has a death wish,' Subaru said as his pupils turned golden and catlike.

'You're one of the twins I presume,' the vampire with the silky voice said looking at Subaru. 'What a waste.' She said in disgust, 'for someone so powerful.'

'And good-looking,' giggled the second vampire.

'Let's just get this over with,' Sakura said in a bored way, 'we have some place to go to.'

'If you are so impatient to die,' the first vampire said elongating her nails. The remaining eleven vampires followed her example. And then the fight started. Tomoyo and Sakura slew the five vampires who came their way. The remaining vampires converged on Subaru who killed four of them. The three vampires who had spoken stood a little way back watching the rest fight and die.

'You take out the girl,' the silky voiced vampire ordered the female vampire, 'and you get the source,' she told the male, 'I'll take care of the twin.'

The other two nodded before moving in. Sakura ducked and jumped back to avoid the sharp claws of her attacker, then she stood on one leg and kicked the vampire with all her might with the other. Tomoyo shot at the vampire advancing towards her but he dodged the stake with ease and grace. He swiped one hand towards her arm but Tomoyo blocked it with her gun.

This went on for some time where neither of the parties managed to inflict any noticeable injuries on the other but finally Sakura drove the stake through her attacker's heart.

'Told you I wouldn't let you live,' she said as the vampire shrieked and crumbled to dust.

The male vampire's attention got distracted at the female's shriek; Tomoyo seized the opportunity and killed him before he could even react. Subaru had abandoned the crossbow and was fighting the silky voiced vampire hand to hand.

'Look out.' Sakura cried when she noticed the brown glow around the vampire hand but her warning came a few seconds too late. Her hand swiped across Subaru's chest cutting him deeply. Subaru crumpled to the ground. Enraged, Sakura aimed the stake at her heart and threw it towards her target. Similarly Tomoyo also fired at the vampire.

Both the projectile met their target and the vampire turned to a pile of dust in a matter of seconds.

'Subaru,' Sakura cried as she ran to the fallen vampire, who funnily enough had not turned to dust himself. His eyes were shut tightly; Sakura shook his shoulder slightly at which those golden eyes snapped open and the injury healed itself.

_**A/N: well here you go. I did my job which was "update the story." Now it's your turn. Click on the small button which says submit reviews, go to the review room and give a long and good review. You better do it or else I might just decide to not submit any more chapters until you do. (Oh yeah…I am sooo evil. Mwuahahahah……)**_


	17. Chapter 16

_**A/N: **_** Hey guys. I'm sorry I've been unable to update for a reeeeeally long time. I was pretty busy and couldn't find time to put anything up but anyhow here I am now with the next chapter. I've tried to put in some vampire slaying action but I'm not sure if I did a good job with it. Let me know how I did? No flames please although constructive criticism would be appreciated. **

**Kurogane: shut up already. Can't you see you're holding them up? Let them go on and read this joke of a story.**

**Me: hey. I was just going to tell them to go ahead and read until you decided to pop up and insult me.**

**Kurogane: so what if I did? You can't do anything.**

**Me: oh yeah? I just decided that your fight with the vampires is lame so I'm just gonna exclude it from this chapter. (Scrolls down and removes the said part.)**

**Kurogane: (cries out) noooo… not the fight. Anything but that. I finally had some action and you decided to cut it out?**

**Me: (smugly) that ought to teach you a lesson.**

**Kurogane: you really are a twisted mind.**

**Me: oh you noticed. (Hehehe) **

**Sakura: right now you both are holding them off. Let them go ahead and read it already. **

**Me: oh yeah. Sorry about that. Please enjoy my creation. ;)**

'They're here.' Masooma said quietly as she sensed the aura of the approaching vampires. Kamui nodded as he drew the crossbow and loaded it.

Are there any strong ones? I can't sense

Masooma also drew the daggers from their holders, taking one in each hand. They waited in the darkness a t rain started to pour.

'They're here.' Masooma breathed silently. And soon enough Kamui could sense the faint auras as well.

'Are the strongest ones with them too?' Kamui asked quietly, unable to pick up any signs of concealed aura, 'i can't tell.'

'Just one,' she replied with a vicious grin, 'and she's all mine.'

'Oh well. Let's get this over with.' He said lazily as he drew his crossbow but otherwise remained motionless.

Masooma hummed a response as the vampires appeared in view. There were more than twenty of them.

'Kamui if things get out of hand,' she said quietly, 'i want you to go find Fay and the other two. Got it?'

'I'm sure there would be no need for that.' Kamui replied as his eyes turned gold and his muscles tensed slightly as body got ready to fight.

'But just in case...' Masooma said once more, her hand slipped towards her silver dagger.

'Fine.' Kamui grunted.

'It's very brave of you to face the coven with just a child to back you up Masooma.' The woman, who was in lead, sneered.

'I must admit, it was pretty smart Xing,' Masooma replied coolly as she reclined onto the windscreen, bringing just twenty fools along to be killed besides you.

'I see you still want revenge then.' The vampire named Xing said, 'I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this. We weren't enemies before.' Xing raised one hand in the air and black smoke started appearing.

'That was a long time ago,' Masooma replied as magic started tingling at the tips of her fingers. She jumped of the bonnet and stood up.

'Masooma you still have a chance to turn back and forget all this,' Xing said once again as the spell neared its end.

'Forget what you did to me?' Masooma said incredulously, 'I don't think so.' Her hand flew through the air as she wrote the spell almost a hundred times faster than the vampire. The red bolt of magical energy seared towards Xing who dodged it with ease. It hit the vampire who stood behind her instead, the said creature burnt up in flames immediately.

'Impressive spell-work,' Xing said as she landed on her feet after a cart wheel, 'you've gotten better.'

An arrow whizzed through the air, heading straight for Xing's heart. Quick as a flash she caught it.

'I'm not here to play games kid.' Xing said as she flicked it to one side lazily.

Another bolt of energy zoomed towards the female vampire, who jumped out of the way but not in time as it grazed her shoulder.

'I'll be more of a challenge then,' Masooma said as she drew both of her silver daggers, 'Kamui, leave her to me, deal with the others.'

'Sure, why not.' He droned, blocking a punch aimed at him by a burly vampire. He stood on one leg and kicked the offender then quickly ducked to avoid getting slashed by the claws of another vampire. Meanwhile Masooma and Xing ho fought dueled each other using both magic and weapons. So far Masooma had received three cuts whereas Xing ho had been hurt more than thrice. This fight continued for a very long time during which Kamui had slain all but one vampire excluding Xing ho.

'Oh *#%,' Masooma swore loudly as she sensed another powerful vampire's aura approaching. Wait it was more than one vampire. She glanced in Kamui's direction, who had not yet sensed their presence. She had to get him out of there before they arrived. He was still too young to die.

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'This is stupid,' Kurogane said angrily as he walked up ahead of the others, 'there is no way any of those idiots would show up tonight. I bet they can't even know where we are.'

'Uh Kuro-tan,' Fay said unsure whether he should be laughing or getting worried as he picked up traces of concealed aura. 'I think they already knew.'

'You mean they are around here somewhere?' Syaoran asked as his grip tightened on the hilt of his sword.

'They are coming from the south and the west.' Fay replied cheerfully.

'That's no cause to be happy you idiot.' Kurogane growled.

'I know. I'm just glad the strong Kuro-tan is here to protect me.' Fay replied with a grin knowing he had succeeded in annoying the taller hunter.

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'Oh finally! I found you,' Kamui said urgently as landed on his feet next to Fay. It was now almost dawn. Fay and the other two had fought the coven almost the entire night and were now way too exhausted to be bothered about anything else yet the urgency in Kamui's voice unnerved Fay.

'What happened?' Kurogane asked.

'It's Masooma,' Kamui replied, 'she got hit by some sort of spell while fighting Xing ho. And then she started bleeding and fainted. I couldn't wake her up.'

'Where is she?' Fay asked in a immediately.

'Not far from here.' The vampire replied

'Well don't just stand there. Lead the way.' Fay said impatiently.

Kamui nodded before hurrying in the direction he had come. The other three followed. As they turned around the corner a vampire's faint aura registered in everyone's minds. They proceeded cautiously towards the unconscious girl lying in the middle of the road but stopped at a distance of ten feet from her when Fay raised an arm. Kurogane observed the blond who was looking at the girl with an expressionless face yet Kurogane could see the sadness in his eyes.

'Fay we should get her out of here,' Syaoran said in worried tones.

'I know,' Fay nodded, 'but I need your word for something.'

'What?' Kamui asked.

'Whatever happens from here onwards,' Fay said stepping forward, 'you won't attack or interfere in any other way.'

'But Fay,' Syaoran said, 'a very strong vampire is around here somewhere.'

'I know,' Fay replied, 'but please just stay back.' He said and then without waiting for their response he started moving towards the female vampire hunter lying on the road.

'Fay…' Syaoran started but Kurogane put a hand on his shoulder. Syaoran stopped to look at his mentor with a confused look. Kurogane scrutinized the blond, who had stopped walking.

'Be careful Flourite.' He said gruffly.

Fay nodded as he proceeded towards the unconscious Masooma. The sun had risen fully by now and was illuminating everything in its slanting blood red rays. He took of the scarf he had been wearing around his neck and let the cool morning breeze carry it away. Kurogane's eyes narrowed even further at this action as Fay turned her on her back gently. She had been cut in a lot of places, Fay noticed, and had lost a considerable amount of blood. Her breathing was ragged and shallow.

Taking a deep breath he put a hand on her forehead where it started emanating a blue glow. Almost instantly Masooma's eyes snapped open but something was wrong. Instead of their usual dark brown color, her eyes were a bright golden with cat-like slits. She snarled as she pounced on him and threw him into the wall on one side of the road. In a flash she was in his face. Using one hand she grabbed his shoulder and with the other she caught hold of his hair, she pushed them both apart to expose his pale neck.

Her canines elongated to take the shape of a vampire's fangs as she opened her mouth and tilted her head back. Fay made no attempts to free him from the sudden assault. Masooma's mouth moved to his neck and apart from a sharp intake of breath, when Masooma sunk her teeth into his flesh, Fay did not give any reaction as the vampire started to feed off the source of his life.

Kurogane and Syaoran drew their swords while Kamui raised his crossbow; all three weapons were aimed at Masooma. Fay saw this out of the corner of his eye.

'No! Don't.' he said urgently raising his hands to tell his friends to keep their distance. 'I know what I am doing so stay back!'

The three exchanged looks of doubt before lowering their weapons slightly.

Masooma sucked out more and more blood making Fay feel slightly light headed but he still made no attempts to stop her. After all this was nothing compared to the anemia he had ever since he had become a vampire. After a while Masooma's eyes reverted back to their original shade of brown as she came to her senses. They widened in shock as she realized what she was doing. Quickly she let go of his hair and shoulder and tried to pull away from him but couldn't manage it because her body was still hungry for more. Fay's right hand moved to her head and pushed it back to his neck firmly when he realized she was trying to pull away.

'You need more.' He said quietly as his other hand snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to himself making it impossible for her to move away.

Even as she sucked his blood, Masooma continued to struggle to let go. Finally after many tries she succeeded in doing so because Fay's grip on her head had weakened due to the decrease in his blood level whereas he own strength had increased by an equal amount.

'I don't need it,' she cried as she pushed his hands away from her forcefully, backing away from him at the same time. 'I didn't need anybody else's blood to survive till now, did I?' she said as she stumbled slightly.

'You never lost this much blood till now either.' Fay said simply as he put one hand to his neck and applied pressure to the holes punctured in his neck to stop the flow of blood. Masooma muttered something under her breath, a red glow surrounded her entire form as all the cuts and bruises healed themselves and the blood vanished from her clothes and mouth.

'You're still weak so don't push yourself,' Fay said silently so that only she could hear him, or had he said that telepathically? Well whatever was the case Masooma didn't care one bit. Her mind was distracted because she could still taste the blood, _Fay's blood_; in her mouth and what scared her was that a part of her wanted more of that sweet red liquid. A part of her wanted to be set free and unleash it's true nature on those weak and pathetic humans and take what was rightfully hers; show them the true glory of the power that had been locked away eons ago but now almost set free. That part of her wanted her to sink those fangs back into the soft and warm flesh and suck the foolish magician bone dry. The rest of her was disgusted, scared and enraged by the very thought.

How could she have even bitten him in the first place? She could have killed him!!!

'It's okay,' Fay said soothingly, 'I can't die that easy.' Had he read her mind? Or was the shock showing on her face?

Even after draining Fay's energy Masooma was still feeling weak and was finding it hard to stay on her feet. The world was spinning and darkness was creeping before her eyes despite the growing sunlight. Just then she became aware of the presence of her friends. _Had they seen it all??? Or had they just arrived?_ Masooma did not know but she hoped from the bottom of her heart that it was the latter. She could not afford the others to know what she was.

The world was beginning to spin faster and her legs were growing numb. Her entire body was trembling but she ignored that and walked past Fay to pick up her fallen twin stiletto daggers. She strapped them back to her waist and straightened but since she had been doing exactly what Fay had forbidden her to do i.e. push herself, she collapsed. Fay hurried towards her but saw that she was unconscious again. He looked over to his companions before bending down to pick her off the ground, bridal style

'Please look after her till we get back,' Fay said as he walked over to the three and laid her in the back of Kurogane's jeep. 'Kamui let's go.'

'Wait one freaking second Flourite.' Kurogane growled angrily, stopping the blond man before he could jump to the top of the nearest building, 'what the hell is going on? And where the heck are you going off to? Do you really expect me to look after her after what I just saw? Why shouldn't I drive the stake through her heart right now?'

'Kurogane please,' Fay said impatiently, 'I will explain everything once I get back. Right now I need to check something more important.' The use of his full name was registered by the crimson-eyed hunter. Without waiting for his response Fay leaped and was gone from sight.

_**A/N: **_**I'm finally finished. So how did it go? Liked it? Hated it? Well whatever you thought while reading this chapter please let me know because every time you fail to review Mokona steals more of Kuro-tan's secret sake stash from the review room. So you better stop Mokona before he sucks all the bottles into its mouth. Go click on the review button and stop him before it's too late. Hurry…**


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: I thought I ought to make it up to my readers by giving the…( drum rolls) two chapters in a single day. **

**(everyone sweatdrops) **

**Ahehe… ******** Please be nice guys. And do try to save that secret stash of sake. You wouldn't want an angry Kuro-tan killing the author before the end of this story, would you now?**

**Have a good read.**

'What do you think is taking them so long?' Syaoran asked the crimson eyed hunter, who was leaning against the jeep.

'Hey, is something wrong?' Syaoran asked noticing that he had not answered.

Wrong? What could be wrong? Everything was perfectly fine. Everything that was happening to them was completely normal. Getting chased around the city by a freak cult of vampires, who were after a half vampire and his girlfriend because of their magic, was completely average. What sounded wrong with that? Nothing! Or the fact that they were guarding an unconscious vampire hunter turned vampire who had tried to kill an idiotic blond was not strange either. After all finding out that your friends are vampires (when you are someone who hunts them) isn't something out of the ordinary. Nope! That was part of everyday life for a vampire hunter.

'I hope Sakura is okay.' Syaoran said looking at his feet as he fidgeted with his fingers.

'I'm sure they're both just fine.' Kurogane grunted. The kid needed reassurance.

'Let's go.' Fay said as he emerged behind them, 'we should probably get back and treat her.' He said opening the jeep door and getting in.

'Where were you?' Kurogane asked getting behind the wheel. Syaoran looked at the two before deciding to get into Fay's car, which Kamui was driving.

'I told you I had to check a couple of things.' Fay replied shortly.

'What in the hell kind of an answer is that?!?' Kurogane fumed.

'Please start driving Kurogane.' Fay said quietly, 'I think explanations can wait for some time.'

'Kurogane?' the man in question asked blankly as the engine roared to life.

'That's your name, isn't it?' Fay asked as a half amused smile spread across his features.

'It is but it sounds strange from your mouth.' Kurogane said with a shake of his head.

'Well I would have never thought that Kuro-tan would like it if I mutilated his name.' Fay said with a smirk.

'Shut up.' Kurogane said with a huff.

Fay walked past the bedroom in which he had put Masooma. He and the others had just finished going through a large amount of research files that Masooma had collected and some dozens of boxes filled with information that Yuuko had let them have in exchange for some sake. Now he was tired a lot and wanted nothing more than to be able to lie down and sleep, but something caught his attention. Something that made him stops outside the wooden door. Fay leaned in and put his ear to the wood. There it was. He could clearly hear the sounds of sobbing and crying on the other side.

His hand rested on the door knob for a while as he debated whether he should go in and check on the girl or just let her be. Finally he decided on going in to see her. Fay opened the door to Sakura's room and made his way over to Masooma. He blinked a couple of times. Masooma was curled up into a ball, covered in cold sweat and muttering something incoherent.

'I'm sorry guys.' This was all that Fay could recognize in her mumbled speech.

Fay stared at helplessly at the girl for a while. Finally he sighed as he ran one hand through his hair and pulled one of the chairs in the room next to Sakura's bed with the other. He sat down and took her hand in his own. Soon afterwards Masooma sighed and fell silent. He tried to move his hand out of hers but as soon as he did that she started shaking once more so he let her hold on to his and. And this is how Fay fell asleep that night, sitting in an uncomfortable chair holding Masooma's hand.

'_How many days has it been since she last fed?' The dark haired vampire asked his girlfriend as he eyed the hungry vampire locked in the cell before him._

'_Almost 3 weeks.' She replied curtly._

'_May be its time we let her out.' The dark haired yet very handsome vampire suggested as he snaked his arm around her waist and snuggled into her neck._

'_Hmm... May be we should.' She replied squirming at the contact._

'_Or maybe we should bring the feast to her.' He said with a smirk spreading across his face giving him a very sinister look._

'_I don't think she would appreciate it much Ashura.' She said apprehensively._

'_Oh come on Xing Ho.' Ashura snorted, 'it's not like she remembers who her prey is.'_

'_Oh I don't know,' Xing Ho replied doubtfully._

'_It's going to be fun.' Ashura said convincingly. 'Besides she is one of us. She should be able to handle it.'_

'_Fine,' she sighed giving in after a while. 'I suppose you are right.'_

'_I always am.' Ashura grinned as he snapped his fingers twice.' Bring in the girl.' he ordered the robed vampire who entered the chamber. The vampire bowed and hurried away. Just then another vampire walked in._

'_Your guest has arrived.' he announced with a bow._

'_Show him in.' Ashura said with the maniacal, evil grin still in place. 'Fei will enjoy this very much.' he told Xing._

'_Fei?' she raised a brow._

'_Wong Reed.' Ashura replied._

'_Why did you invite him here?' She asked apprehensively._

'_He is the only other remaining vampire who can match my power.' Ashura said simply. 'We are both after the same thing, he said tracing her face with a thin finger, 'and unless we join forces none of us can hope to defeat that witch.'_

'_Let me go.' a young girl screamed as two robed vampires dragged her inside the vast chamber. She kept kicking and screaming until she saw the barred cell._

'_Api!' she screamed as she saw teenage girl with black hair matted with dirt and something else._

'_Oh my gosh! Api!!!' She screamed again, 'what have you done to her???' She shrieked at Ashura as one of the robed vampires moved forward and started unlocking the cage. She broke free of the remaining vampires grasp and ran inside the cell to the older teenager who was huddled up in the back, her eyes closed and breathing shallow.  
'So hungry...' She whispered hoarsely, 'need blood.'_

_The younger of the two, who had been attempting to revive the other, froze upon hearing that. She cast an accusing glare in Ashura's direction before returning to her previous attempts._

'_She chose this herself'. Ashura told the girl in a monotonous tone._

'_My sister would never choose something like that.' she spat angrily._

_Just then the girl's eyes opened. The younger girl had hoped to see dark brown but knew that it was foolish of her to even think about the possibility when her gaze met two golden catlike eyes._

'_Aisha?' The vampire asked weakly before she suddenly jerked out of her grasp and scooted away. 'Stay away from me please.' she said hugging her legs and dropping her head between her knees, 'it's not safe to be near Me.' she said as she started rocking back and forth._

'_Api I...' the girl began but was cut off by the elder sister, 'stay away! Get out of here while you still can.'_

_Aisha looked at her with tearful eyes but complied all the same. As she neared the exit one of the robed vampires stepped in and shut the door._

'_Set her free Kyle.' The cleft chinned vampire spoke._

'_With pleasure,' he said walking towards the younger girl. His nails elongated and with one swift move of his hand he cut the girls arm deep enough to draw blood. The vampire girl lifted her head and snarled angrily, her eyes were ferocious and her aura deadly. In the blink of an eye she was upon Kyle whom she tossed away with no effort at all. _

'_Stay away from her.' She growled dangerously as she caught hold of Aisha's bleeding arm._

_Kyle backed down and slipped out of the cage silently, locking the door behind him._

_The vampire then turned to Aisha with hungry eyes. Her fangs elongated as she grabbed a handful of the teenager's hair and pulled them to expose her neck. _

'_A-Api snap out of it', Aisha squirmed as she tried to break free from the inhuman grasp but to no avail. The vampire moved her head back a little before sinking her fangs into the girl's neck. A scream erupted through the night and echoed in the hollow chamber._

Fay was awakened from his slumber by a scream.

'No. No. No. Please I am so sorry.' Masooma was screaming backing away from Fay in fear, 'Please no.'

Fay looked at the girl in confusion before it dawned upon him. She had a nightmare of some sort.

'Masooma, Hey! Sssshh… Calm down,' Fay cooed moving towards the paranoid girl. 'It's okay.'

Masooma looked at Fay with wide fearful eyes as she continued to inch away from him.

'I killed them.' She cried as tears streaked down her cheeks. 'I-I killed them...I'm a m-monster.' She was getting hysterical.

'Sssshh its okay,' Fay tried once again reaching out for her as she scooted away from him. 'Everyone is fine.'

'N-no.' She hiccupped, 's-stay back, I'll hurt you too. I c-cant c-control myself.' She backed away even further till her back met the wall.

'Calm down Masooma,' Fay said once again, 'everything is going to be okay. I promise.'

'B-but there was so m-much… blood,' she wailed through her tears but let Fay touch her, 'and then... she was there and I... I couldn't control it... I'm a monster.' She said pulling at her hair, 'I k-killed everyone.'

'It's okay,' Fay said getting on the bed and taking hold of her hands so she couldn't hurt herself, 'it was just a bad dream. It wasn't real.'

'But I k-killed them.' She wailed. Trying to hurt herself despite Fay holding her back.

Fay pulled her closer so that her head was resting on his chest, 'no you didn't,' he spoke into her hair even though he had o idea who "she" or "they" were.

'It w-was every…w-where.' She cried weakly into his shirt as exhaustion overcame her once more, 'and I-I killed her...' Fay rubbed her back gently as he wrapped his arms around her, 'it was just a dream,' he said reassuringly but she kept mumbling the same thing over and over again until she fell asleep.

Once her sobs and hiccups died down Fay chanced a look at the girl; her face was still wet from the recent tears and she would occasionally sob even in her sleep. All the bruises and cuts had healed and even though she was still pale, due to loss of blood and lack of feeding, her skin glowed in an almost unearthly way. Raven bangs streaked with a deep crimson fell on her face as her hair had become undone during her fight. Fay noticed that she was clutching his shirt like a scared child clutches their favorite blanket while sleeping.

He had no idea how long it would take the girl to get over the shock of biting him so, sighing to himself, he let his head rest against the headboard and closed his eyes.

**A/N: hmm… I wonder how I did it? Oh oh I know. You guys should head over to the review room and let me know. (cast a sideways glance at Kuro-tan who growls menacingly while drawing Souhi.) **

**Me: okay I admit it. It was me who told Mokona about your hiding place but… (starts running for dear life.) but I'm sure the readers will stop him before it's too laaate… HELP!!!**

**Syaoran: u-oh. Looks like the author is in trouble. (looks at you.) well don't just stand there. go help her!!**

**Me: (still running.) HURRYYYY!!!!**


	19. Chapter 18

_**A/N: **_**hello everybody. I'm back with yet another chapter which I would like to "Miyu Luva" since she was the only one who helped in stopping Mokona on time. He was down to the last bottle when she arrived thus saving yours truly from the wrath of Kuro-tan.**

**Kuro-tan: why the hell are you mutilating my name too, you crazy author?**

**Me: oh you're early today.**

**Kuro-tan: I wanted to keep a check on you, who knows what you might tell that meat bun the next time?**

**Me: Ahehehe. You do know it slipped out by mistake, right?**

**Kuro-tan: You just accidently told that shiru manju about the twenty different locations where I put my sake?**

**Mokona: nope, she gave me a list of all those places as well.**

**Me: not helping my case here Mokona.**

**Kuro-tan: why you little… and WILL YOU STOP TYPING MY NAME AS KURO-TAN???**

**Me: I think I'm gonna go hide now. Have fun you guys… and don't forget to give me a review.**

Masooma moaned slightly at the dull throbbing she felt pulsing through her head and through closed eyes she realized that it was resting on something soft and warm, something which rose and fell with a steady rhythm. Still feeling tired, she wanted to go back to the land of slumber but her eyes opened automatically when a sweet and cool scent filled her nostrils. She recognized that smell. It smelled like... Fay! Feeling disorientated she tried to lift her head of the warm rising and falling pillow when something restricted her from moving away too much. Turning her head a little to see what was restricting her movement she saw the thin yet strong arms wrapped around her body in a protective manner. She looked up and couldn't keep from blushing like a tomato even though she was confused by what she saw.

_Fay was holding her in a very protective embrace._ But why? And where was she? This wasn't her bed or her own room for that matter. Turning around, as much she was allowed to under Fay's grip, she noticed that the room looked familiar despite the strangeness of her situation. "This was Sakura's room" she realized.

The warm embrace loosened around her until the arms let go completely. Confused as to why that was she looked back at Fay only to find a single blue eye looking back at her. Her stirring had seemed to awoken him as well.

'Um… well.. Ahem.' Fay started uneasily and awkwardly, 'um...I'm sorry about that. You were having a nightmare last night so…' his voice trailed off as he got off the bed quickly.

Masooma just stared at him in response noticing the pink flush creeping along his pale flesh.

'I think I'm gonna go check on Kuro-tan.' He said as he slid out of the room quickly.

Shaking her head Masooma sighed, mentally kicking herself for being stupid. It wasn't what she had initially thought it was. There was no way it could have been anyways. They were two very different people; two different people with two _very_ different lives.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

'Alright, spill,' Kurogane growled once Masooma was seated across him. 'I know what the witch said Fluorite, I want to hear it from her.' He added quickly seeing the look Fay had on his face.

'Now then,' Kurogane said turning his attention back to the raven-headed girl, 'would you mind explaining why you pretended to be normal hunter? And why are you a hunter in the first place? Why are you wiping out your own kind?'

Syaoran listened quietly with a stoic expression, showing his exasperation was not going to help the situation. He was pretty sure if Tomoyo had been there he wouldn't be listening to this conversation. Tomoyo would never let Kurogane be this heartless. So what if Masooma was a vampire, she was still the same. The same friend/sister he had grown fond of, during his two years time living with his mentor.

He knew something bad had happened in his past but he still couldn't figure out why Kurogane would suddenly turn so… so uncaring. Just because he found out that Yuuko's annoying (in Kurogane's case) niece was a vampire.

'Humans are pretty stupid in their teens,' she spoke in a low tone that sent an involuntary shiver down Syaoran's spine, 'don't you agree,' she paused as she slowly looked up, 'Kurogane?'

Okay so maybe she was a bit different, but Kurogane still didn't have to be so blunt while questioning her.

'The hell???'

'I used to be one too,' she said in the same low tone.

'…' Nothing but silence followed her statement.

'How long has it been?' Kamui finally broke the silence, not that he really cared or anything. He was just curious. Yeah that was right. He was just curious.

'I've been around lot longer than you have,' she replied as she made an attempt to get up.

'You still haven't answered my questions yet.' Kurogane said pushing her back, not that he really had to do that, she had fallen back to the sofa on her own. Amnesia can be quite a pain.

'Kurogane maybe you should…' Fay started coldly but Masooma had started speaking of her own accord so he let it go.

'Xing ho and I were best friends since childhood,' Masooma said in a hollow and lifeless tone, 'when we were seventeen she met a really _amazing_ guy. She started spending a lot of time with him and whenever we met,' Masooma said looking out of the wide glass window, 'all she did was talk about him and his gang. Sometime later she told me that the guy wanted her to join the coven.'

Although her voice was lifeless, Syaoran could pick up traces of pain? Anger maybe? Or probably regret? Maybe all three emotions were buried deep somewhere in there.

'I was intrigued by the new powers that she acquired once she had joined.' Now Syaoran could easily detect sourness in her voice, 'I wanted to be like her too so I, being the idiot that I was, _asked_ her to turn me into a vampire too.' She said bitterly, 'everything went fine at first; back then I never had any problem with feeding off of others.' '_Did she just shudder?'_ Syaoran thought.

'I had to, to survive but then,' by now her voice was laced with venom, 'those bastards showed their true nature. They started killing their victims and wanted me to do the same.'

'Xing and I had a very heated discussion. I didn't want to kill anyone,' her voice had regained its initial hollowness, 'I never did,' she whispered, 'but she said that it was our right. We had power over the humans, power to decide who lived and who died.' She laughed.

'Her boyfriend was the one who broke up the fight. I still remember what he said, "don't force her Xing. We can show it to her eventually; the true nature of our kind."

'They let me be for some time but one day when I got home,' Masooma's voice quivered slightly, 'I found out that my whole family was gone.'

'They left a note on the wall… smeared in blood…' she felt silent but no one else dared to speak. 'They wanted me to go to the ceremonial grounds. There they captured me and…' she sniffed, Syaoran was shocked, why hadn't he noticed she was crying? Okay so maybe she had turned her back to them all and yeah her face was hidden from view but shouldn't he have at least sensed it? He was a hunter after all. How could he not sense things like Kurogane?

'Right… before my eyes,' she hiccupped, 'they killed everyone... except my little sister…' she still had her back to them all but Fay walked over and sat down beside her. A hiccup shook her entire body so Fay put an arm around her shoulder in a comforting way.

'Those bastards did something to me that night…' she said, barely even noticing Fay. She seemed to be in some sort of trance, 'Ashura and the others, they… ripped apart my conscience… I became the monster that I am now.'

'Masooma you're not a monster.' Fay said shaking his head.

'I agree.' Kamui spoke from the corner where he was leaning against the wall.

'Not a monster???' she finally turned around to face them once more, her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were bloodshot, 'you have no idea what I have done…I killed her. She was the last remaining member of my family and I… I killed ,my own sister, damn it!!!' Masooma said burying her head into her hands. 'I was the one who...' Her voice cracked as she started shaking.

Syaoran was rendered speechless. He knew he ought to comfort her but he couldn't find the right words to say. _It's okay; you didn't know what you were doing? _Like that was going to bring her any comfort. He glanced at Kurogane to see if maybe his mentor had something to say but the red-eyed man's expression was unreadable as always since his infamous scowl was set in place as he watched the girl before him.

'And then Yuuko found me,' she said in an empty tone, 'she bounded my conscience back to me using her own magic, thus I became a sorceress and took up the role of her niece. Since she doesn't do anything for free, I had to work for her for a century before I could do whatever I wanted with my life.' She sighed, 'just one more day before I'll be free.'

'Free?' Syaoran spoke for the first time.

'Free of this lie that I have been living for so long.' She replied.

'So how have you been living for this long? Where did you get the blood to survive?' Kamui asked.

'Myself.' She said this so quietly so that only Fay could hear her. The blond sitting next to her looked at her with wide eyes. For the first time in the entire morning Fay looked shocked.

'I can't control myself when I bite someone,' Masooma said with downcast eyes, 'I don't want to hurt anybody else so...'

'So you feed off yourself?' Fay asked incredulously.

'I told you I...' She started.

'I'm a part vampire too.' Fay cut in, 'but you don't see me doing something like that.'

'It's not the same. You won't understand.' She said shaking her head and looking away.

'What's not to understand?' Fay asked heatedly. 'That you like hurting yourself, like some masochistic idiot?'

'Look Fay,' she said through gritted teeth as her hands balled up digging her nails into her palm as she tried to keep from shouting, 'just drop it okay. Don't worry about me.' She said with a fake smile.

'Why?' Fay asked stubbornly.

She decided to ignore him and get away from that place before she lost her self control.

'So you're running away like a coward?' Kurogane growled.

Using all the will power that she possessed, Masooma stopped herself from turning back to hit the man but keep on walking towards the exit.

'Masooma maybe you should...' Kamui started but that was when she lost it.

'Look at me!' She shrieked as she whirled around, her eyes turning a catlike golden, 'I killed my own family! I kill anyone who I bite. I literally do that, okay. And I don't like it. So yeah, that's why I hurt myself. You,' she looked directly at Fay, 'have no idea what it's like so stop pretending to care about what I do!!!'

'And you!' She shrieked at Kurogane, 'you hate vampires right? For what they did to your family? Well guess what? So do I. For what I did! And what I do when I can't control myself.'

She couldn't take it anymore. Why were they acting like they cared for her? What was she to any of them? Hadn't they realized it by now? Hadn't _he_ realized by now? She didn't want this.

Syaoran watched quietly as Fay got up from his place on the sofa and walked to the cabinet. He pulled out a bottle and made his way to Masooma. He took her hand and put the bottle there.

'Don't hate yourself for what you couldn't control.' He said softly before moving out of the room.

Masooma looked at the bottled liquid in her hand with a lost expression. 'Why???' It was all that came she could say. After all that she had said, after all that she had done, why would he say something like that?

_**A/N: **_** sooo… How was it? Come on people, reviews reeeally mean a lot to authors like me so just click on that green little button and leave a comment.**


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hey everyone. This is ch 19 of 'twisted fate'. As much as it saddens me to say it but this fic is now nearing its final stages. A few more chapters and we will be done. Anyhow I have started working on a new story as well (even though I have exams going on… I guess it's something I do to relax myself. Hehe…)**

**The song is "Like You" by 'Evanescence'.**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own these lyrics, I just happen to have a cd of this song which I will use for total world domination!!!**

**Well then read and review. **

Fay knocked on the door gently but got no response from the other side.

'Masooma?' He called gently before opening the door and entering the room. The room was completely dark and empty. The only source of light was the moonlight pouring in through the open window at the far end of the room. Fay observed the room, the bed was not slept on, even though it was almost one at night now and there was no sign of the girl he was looking for. After her outburst in the morning Masooma had locked herself in Sakura's room and not left it even once. So now here he was worried about the sorceress/vampire.

He quietly made his way to the window.

_''Stay low_

_Soft, cold and dreamless_

_Far beneath my nightmares and loneliness...''_

A soft, slow and haunting yet extremely enchanting voice floated in through the window. The voice had an unearthly quality to it, something so beautiful that made Fay freeze right where he stood, wanting nothing more than to listen and lose himself in that melody.

_''I hate me for breathing without you_

_I don't want to feel anymore for you_

_Grieving for you..._

_I'm not grieving for you_

_Nothing real love can't undo..._

_And though I may have lost my way_

_All paths lead straight to youuu_

_I want to be like you_

_Lie cold in the ground like you...''_

Fay heard her voice rise just slightly. It's a beautiful and steady voice like that of a professional singer. The lyrics had taken on a much more desolate tone by now but he just listened to her sing completely gripped by the enchantment Masooma's voice seemed to be casting.

The melody was filled with so much pain and sorrow, Fay couldn't help but wonder how she had been able to cope with it for so long, just by burying it all away.

''_Halo_

_Blinding wall between us_

_Melt away and leave us alone again _

_Humming, haunted somewhere out there _

_I believe our love can see us through in death"_

Fay listened slightly shocked and completely awed at the strong tone of Masooma's voice. It rose and fell with perfection, creating an unbelievable song. Quietly and slowly he climbed out the window and swung himself onto the rooftop, so as not to distract her. He stood a little way behind her but she still had not sensed his presence since she was sitting on the very edge of the roof with her legs dangling off of it and gazing into the distance. Fay could feel that she was crying and this feeling was confirmed when he saw her tears splash onto the roof.

"_I long to be like you _

_Lie cold in the ground like you _

_There's room inside for two and I'm not grieving for you _

_I'm coming for you _

_You're not alone _

_No matter what they told you, you're not alone _

_I'll be right beside you forevermore _

_I long to be like you, sis _

_Lie cold in the ground like you did_

_There's room inside for two and I'm not grieving for you _

_And as we lay in silent bliss _

_I know you remember me _

_I long to be like you _

_Lie cold in the ground like you _

_There's room inside for two and I'm not grieving for you _

_I'm coming for you"_

Fay could not take it anymore so he decided to make his presence known by the female hunter.

'Hey.' He said taking a step towards her.

Masooma stiffened, 'How long have you been listening?' She asked, her voice carrying a hint of fear.

'A while.' Fay replied calmly as he walked over and sat down beside her. She just lowered her head to hide her eyes behind her bangs. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have listened but I...' Fay said now feeling a bit guilty.

'I asked how long you have been there?' She cut in.

'Since you started singing.' Fay replied truthfully. 'I know it was wrong of me to listen but I couldn't move from there.'

'Why did you come here?' She asked indifferently.

'You hadn't left the room since morning,' he said, 'so I grew worried and came to check on you.'

She whispered something inaudible as she gripped the edge of the roof so tightly that her knuckles grew white. Fay looked at her questioningly.

'Why?' She asked through gritted teeth, her voice barely above a whisper, 'why do you care for me?'

Fay looked at the girl in disbelief and confusion. Why? Why does somebody care for others? Because they meant something to them, why else?

'What am I to you?' She asked in the same tone.

'I care for you cuz... I-its becuz I...' What was he supposed to tell her? He wasn't sure of how she would react upon finding the truth. But then again he had been unsure about Sakura's reaction as well. She had taken it pretty well so maybe if he told Masooma too she might understand. Masooma was looking straight at him, waiting for an answer.

He took a deep breath and looked into her brown eyes, 'I care for you because,' he said as he leaned closer towards her, 'because I…'

'Masooma! We got a problem.' Kamui said as he jumped onto the roof.

'Hey we have a slight situation.' Kamui said as he entered the room she was staying in at the Flourite residence. He narrowed his eyes and pinched his nose at the scent of blood flooding the air. What was strange was that it wasn't the synthetic blood that Fay and the other vampires had come up with, for the harmless vampires. It was the stench of real blood and what was more it was the stench of real _vampire_ blood that was permeating the atmosphere.

'Masooma? You in here?' He asked quietly even though he was perfectly aware of the fact that the said vampire was not there.

Silently he made his way across the room until something collided with his foot and rolled over the carpet to hit the wall. Frowning slightly he bent down and picked up the bottle of blood. He had seen Fay give it to Masooma in the morning but it was still unopened. He put it on the study table (it was Sakura's room) and made his way over to the open window. With one last look towards the door that he had left ajar, Kamui climbed out of the window and swung onto the roof.

'Masooma! We have a problem.' He said the minute his feet touched the roof. 'Oh. I'm sorry.' He said quickly looking away. The raven-haired girl was sitting right next to Fay, both leaning in towards the other as though about to kiss.

'Err… no. ahem… it's okay.' Fay said somewhat awkwardly as he pulled back hastily.

'What's wrong?' Masooma asked at the same time, her head snapping in his direction.

'Yuuko just called,' he replied turning his grayish-blue eyes back to the two, now that he looked properly he could easily see her cheeks glinting in the moonlight, she had definitely been crying, 'she still hasn't heard from the others.'

'This can't be good. They were supposed to contact her hours ago.' Masooma said quickly jumping to her feet and hurrying back to Sakura's room. The other two followed her example and climbed back in through the window. She was rummaging around a small bag.

'Found it.' She declared, drawing out a slim and rectangular box from the bag. It flickered for a while before projecting the image of a dark alley, once she pressed the ruby embedded on its top. Masooma's eyes narrowed, no one was in sight.

'What is that?' Kamui asked.

'A communicator,' she replied simply, pressing the ruby once more, the image changed to a sort of map with a blinking blue spot visible in one corner near a squiggly line. 'I gave it to Subaru so he could stay in touch.'

'So why is it in an empty alley?' Fay asked in a slightly worried tone.

'I'm not sure,' she said furrowing her brow even further as she pressed the ruby yet again turning the communicator off.

'You should tell Kurogane and Syaoran to get ready for the hunt of their lives,' she told them while pocketing the communication device and tying up her hair. 'Meet me at the warehouse in an hour.' She headed for the window.

'Where are you off to?' Kamui asked tilting his head to one side as he folded his arms.

'I'm going to check where that signal is coming from.' She replied as she wrote off a transportation spell in glowing crimson runes. 'And then I'm going to get some re-enforcements. _This ends today._' She activated the spell and was gone with the swish of her dupatta.

The two males stood there for a while.

'I think we should go tell those two now.' Kamui said finally moving for the door.

'Yeah.' Fay nodded and followed him.

'Kuro-tan.' Fay said in a sing song voice, 'Syaoran where are you guys?'

'How many times do I have to tell you??MY. NAME. IS. KUROGANE!!!' He yelled as he walked out of his room closely followed by Syaoran.

'Aww but Kuro-tan suits you a lot better, ne Kuro-puppy?' Fay said with a sly smile.

'Why you...' Kurogane said angrily as he reached for the hilt of his sword.

'Masooma asked us to meet her at the warehouse in an hour,' Kamui said calmly before the hunter could actually slice the blond in half, 'it would be better if you save your energy for the coven. We're going after them.'

'Finally.' Kurogane said with a malicious grin. 'We're gonna get rid of those bastards for good.'

'See you in forty five minutes Kuro-tan.' Fay said before making a dash for the stairs.

'Come on Kurogane.' Syaoran said walking back to the room, as the taller man had wanted to follow the blond upstairs. 'We should be getting ready.'

'After I'm done dealing with that accursed coven I'm murdering this idiot.' He grumbled before turning around and following his student.

Kamui shook his head before walking after Fay, who happened to be rummaging about in his closet.

'Shouldn't you be busy too?' He asked with his back to the vampire. Fay had dropped the false cheery voice now

'I don't have to be.' Was the reply he got.

Fay remained silent as he drew darts from a bag and dipped their edges in the liquid contained in a crystal vial. Kamui had seen Yuuko show something similar to Sakura when she had told her about Touya.

'So erm… what was going on between you and Masooma?' Kamui said finally voicing his curiosity.

Fay stiffened a bit before relaxing. 'We were just talking.' He said, pocketing the newly poison covered darts. A small smile graced his lips as he continued pulling out various weaponry and stuff that might be used later on for hunting purposes.

'Wasn't she supposed to meet us here in an hour?' Kurogane grumbled impatiently. As if on cue the heard several car engines approach the warehouse. Several doors opened and closed before the sounds of foot-steps approaching the warehouse were heard.

'Sorry you guys had to wait.' Masooma said as she walked down the steps. After her came Yuuko, Fuuma, a curly haired girl and two more guys. These latter three were seemed to be twenty at most.

'Kamui, Fay, Kurogane you already know Fuuma, this is Himawari,' she said pointing towards the girl clad in black jeans and a red spaghetti strap shirt, 'this here is Watanuki,' she said introducing the dark-haired bespectacled boy who was wearing a grey hooded upper over a black T-shirt and blue faded jeans, 'that over there is Doumeki,' she jerked a thumb in the direction of the last boy who was dressed in a black leather jacket and denims. Kurogane could sense a vampire's aura surrounding the boy called Doumeki and after glancing in Syaoran and Fay's direction he knew that they knew it as well.

'This is Kamui, Kurogane, Fay and Syaoran,' she told the three.

'I'm sure you want to know what is going on.' Yuuko said seeing the impatient look on Kurogane's face, 'well here is the deal. Subaru was supposed to contact me yesterday night however they still haven't contacted me. Moreover Masooma located the communicator that she gave them yesterday. It was in a place not very far from the forest located to north of Kashmir but it is not the only item that she found.'

'What are you getting at witch?' Kurogane asked as his eyes glinted dangerously.

'These were also lying near the communicator,' she said holding up the magically imbued stakes that belonged to Sakura along with the modified gun which belonged to Tomoyo. 'I'm afraid the coven might have captured them.'

'What?!?' Exclaimed Kurogane, Fay and Syaoran at the same time.

'What about Subaru?' Kamui asked as his eyes changed from grey-blue to a cat-like golden.

'I didn't find any indication that he is not alive.' Masooma stated simply.

'We have to find them.' Syaoran said clenching his fist in determination, the look in his eyes screaming to the world ''nothing can stop me.''

'Would you happen to know where they might be?' Fuuma spoke for the first time.

'What are they going to do to them?' Kurogane asked at the same time.

'As long as they don't have Yuui,' spoke a new voice, nothing.

All those present in the room tensed immediately, hands flying to their respective weapons. This vampire was strong, really strong.

'Ahahaha...' He started laughing at the reactions he received from the hunters except for Yuuko, who happened to be standing very calmly with a smile gracing her red lips.

'What's so funny?' Watanuki asked as he got into a fighting stance.

'I'm glad you decided to show,' Yuuko said to the newcomer. 'Seishiro.'

'Oh no. the pleasure is all mine,' he said stepping into the light. This man seemed to be thirty or so, his black hair fell into his eyes, one of which was made of stone.

'Seishiro.' Kamui growled as his eyes turned feral once more.

'Good to see you too Kamui.' He smiled, 'my my, look at how much you've grown since the last time I saw you Yuui.'

'This is not some sort of (beep) reunion, damn it!' Kurogane growled angrily, 'do you know where in the (beep) world are they?'

'Patience Kurogane,' Yuuko smirked, 'you will know all in due time.'

'I don't have time for (beep) patience.' He yelled in exasperation.

'Calm down Kurgz,' Masooma said, 'nothing will happen to Tomoyo.'

'How can _you_ be sure?' He said angrily, 'those things could do something to her, like what they did to you.'

A dark look passed in her eyes but Masooma just lowered her head to hide avoid letting others know.

'They can't do something like that to her.' She said quietly, 'At least one source must be untainted for the ceremony to take place and she is the only one who is still untouched. You shouldn't worry.'

'And what about his sister?' He asked jerking his head in Fay's direction.

'The same can be said for Sakura,' Yuuko replied this time, 'at least until tomorrow night.'

'What exactly does this ceremony involve?' Fuuma asked politely.

'The magical essences and the blood belonging to all three sources are merged into one human host,' Seishiro was the one to answer, 'any vampires who feeds off that human will gain eternal youth and health. In other words he will become a true immortal.'

'Are there any specifics for the host?' he asked once more.

'Not really, any living human can work.' Seishiro said in a casual way.

He sped through the forest dodging a tree here, branch there. It was still dark but the sun would be up in less than an hour and he had a job to do. He had to inform his master about the source's allegiance with the witch and her ragtag group of slayer wannabes. He slowed down to a jog, then to a fast-paced walk and finally to a stroll. He still had plenty of time.

The guard stationed at the entrance bowed his head in acknowledgement as he neared. The vampire returned the gesture with a slight nod of his head.

'I take it you have some information for us?' the pale skinned blond vampire asked emerging from the dark corridor.

'Hai.'

'Is it useful?' the blond cocked his head to a side in question.

'I'm sure it will be.' Was the reply.

The blond chuckled lightly. 'We shall see. Follow me.' He commanded turning around and vanishing back into the darkness.

The dark-haired vampire followed quietly. The two walked in silence for a while before the blond spoke again.

'Ashura is quite pleased with you for your last gift.'

'I'm glad he liked it.' He replied quietly.

'I'm curious though.' The blond continued as they turned round a corner and started climbing stairs, 'why did you not kill the other girl?'

'I don't see any reason why I should have.' he said calmly as they approached the double oak doors. The blond opened them and entered, silently he followed.

'He is back.' The blond announced kneeling before the two vampires. One was rather large, had a cleft chin and wore a monocle; the other was relatively more slender and handsome with shoulder length raven hair.

'What have you learnt about the last source?' the raven haired vampire asked.

'There are eleven in all, including the source and the witch,' he also kneeled before the two, 'four are vampires and four are kids. They have finally figured out that the female source is missing.'

'The witch decided to come out of hiding, huh?' the monocle vampire said in an amused tone. 'This will be interesting.'

'How long till they get here?' the dark haired vampire spoke.

'Don't worry Ashura; the source will be here before the ceremony begins.' The blond one said confidently, 'I'll make sure of it.'

'No need for that Fay,' the vampire said as he stood up again, 'I have already done that. He will _be _here.' He said as his green eyes glinted maliciously before turning a feral golden.

'We have sooo got to get out of here.' Sakura said as she paced around the cell. Tomoyo was sitting crossed legged on a wooden bed watching the teenager go round and round in circles. It had been almost two days now, since they had been captives of the coven.

'I agree but how do you plan to do that? We don't have any weapons with us and neither of us can use magic.' She stated in a logical way.

'If only we could….' The teenager trailed of before coming to a halt. 'Gosh! How can I have been so stupid?' she said smacking herself on the forehead, 'why didn't I remember before?' Sakura muttered in an annoyed tone as she fumbled with the metallic bangles that she wore on one arm.

'Err… what are you doing?' Tomoyo asked in a confused manner.

'Aha!!!' Sakura exclaimed triumphantly as she slid of all the bangles.

'What?' Tomoyo whined.

'Fay made these for me.' She explained as she picked up one of the metallic bangles and held it up against the light. Sakura squinted her eyes in concentration as she began tracing the complex and intricate markings engraved on the thin silver metal.

'So?' Tomoyo raised her brow skeptically.

'He made these using magic just for the sole purpose of serving me.' She said still not looking away from the metal ring in her hand, 'meaning we can use these to bust out of here.'

**A/N: wow this is so far the longest chapter that I have written. How was it? Do let me know please. Hopefully there won't be any more posts by me till exams are over.**

**P.S. I also posted a new story by the name of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. You should go and check it out as well.**


	21. Chapter 20

_**A/N: **_**finally my exams are over so I think I can write and post more frequently now. (I hope.) anyhow here is what is currently happening in this story. Please read and review because reviews make me post faster.**

'Damn!' Kurogane cursed as he eyed the descending sun. Currently the sky was a faded pink and golden along the west which was melting smoothly into a dark blue and purple along the eastern side. Stars were beginning to blink into existence in that direction as well, slowly creeping towards the setting sun. 'Where the hell is that place? It's almost sunset!' he hissed into the earpiece. He and all the others had one to stay in touch while they searched.

'I think I found it.' Syaoran's voice crackled only a second later. 'I'm gonna going in.'

'Stay right where you are,' Kurogane and Masooma ordered instantly.

'But I have to get Saku…'

'Don't be such an idiot, kid.' Kurogane cut in. 'You can't fight all of those bastards by yourself.' He growled as he flipped open his tracking device-the one Seishiro had been kind enough to give them all-and scanned it for Syaoran's signal. He was the furthest from the boy as compared to everyone else. 'We're coming over there.' He said shoving it in his pocket and racing off in the direction where his student was.

'Took you long enough.' Kamui said with an arrogant smirk as the tanned man arrived.

'Now now Kamui.' Fay said teasingly as he grinned widely, 'you know Kuro-tan can't help it if he's slow.'

'Shut up before I…' Kurogane started to growl but Fay cut in, 'before you what Kuro-tan? Chase me to death?'

'You're asking for it fluorite.' He said as he unsheathed his sword.

'Waa!!! An angry puppy is going to slice me in half.' Fay said in mock fear.

'That's it!' Kurogane snapped as he lunged for the blond, who dodged the attack with ease.

'Shouldn't we stop them?' Watanuki asked in concern, 'he could really hurt him.'

'It quite normal with them,' Syaoran said as the new members of the group sweat-dropped, 'you'll get used to it. Although I do think we should stop them.' He added as an afterthought.

'Can the two of you act your age for once? Kamui asked with a hint of amusement in his voice, Fay was evading every single attack thrown his way without even having to look.

'He's good.' Himawari said clearly looking impressed.

'It doesn't matter.' Watanuki cried in frustration, 'aren't we supposed to be here for your friends?'

This question switched both hunters to serious mode.

'Much better.' Yuuko said serenely, 'now that we are done warming up,' she looked at the two at the two men, 'how about we spread out and scout this area?

'I think Kamui, Doumeki and I should go to check. We'll signal you if we see anything.' Masooma suggested before starting off above the small hill concealing a rather modern looking building. Doumeki and Kamui exchanged a look before following the vampire.

After exactly five minutes the three vampires were back.

'So?' Kurogane demanded.

'Good work Syaoran,' she said looking at the teenager, 'this is the place.'

Syaoran nodded slightly.

'They've got guards all the possible entrances along the western side.' Doumeki reported.

'Same case along the northern and north eastern sides.' Kamui stated.

'And there is no way we can sneak in from the south without getting spotted.' Masooma finished, 'So Fay and Kamui,' she said looking at the two, 'I need you two to take out all the guards along the southern side of the building. The dungeons are closest from that side.' She then turned to look at the others, 'Kurogane and I will go towards the dungeons for Tomoyo and the others, everybody else except Syaoran and Fuuma, will head towards the centre of the building. Take out any vampires you may see on the way.

'Once we free them, Sakura will get Tomoyo out of that place,' she said jerking a thumb in the direction of the building behind her, 'Syaoran will already be waiting here with Fuuma to escort her to safety. We will stay in touch using the wireless radios Seishiro provided. Any questions?'

'How do you know they will still be in the dungeons?' Himawari asked. 'Isn't the ceremony supposed to take place today?'

'It can't start until the moon is the highest in the sky,' Masooma answered, 'and that isn't for another two hours.'

'What if something doesn't go according to your plan? Like what if,' Watanuki asked, 'they are not in the dungeons? Or what if they have already extracted her essence?'

'If there are any changes I'll let you know. Is there anything else?' she asked looking at the group.

'No? Very well then, Fay, Kamui if you guys could?'

The said vampire/part-vampire nodded before moving out towards the top of the hill. Masooma started muttering under her breathe and a reddish glow enveloped the two before the vanished completely.

'Invisibility spells.' She informed the gaping teenagers. She began muttering again; minuscule reddish runes appeared before her, with a wave of her hand they zoomed off in the direction of the building. They waited for a short while.

'I don't hear anything,' Kurogane said.

'That is exactly what a silence spell does.' Seishiro said. 'Pretty handy, no?'

'Whatever.' The red-eyed hunter shrugged.

'Let's go.' Masooma summoned her twin stiletto daggers, 'the hunt begins,' she said as she opened her eyes, 'now.' The light brown in them turned a feral golden.

They were running through the dark passages that, according to Masooma, lead to the dungeons. Strangely enough they didn't meet any vampires along the way.

'Are you sure we're going the right way?' Kurogane asked as they turned another corner and again found no one guarding the passage before them.

'The dungeons are just two more turns from here.' She replied as she continued running, her deep crimson dupatta billowing in her wake. All of a sudden she stopped and raised her hand for him to do the same. 'I can sense one of them up ahead.' She whispered as he looked at her questioningly.

He nodded before tightening his grip on his sword since he had been unable to sense the aura. This meant that this one was one of the higher-ups. _Well whatever that thing was, he was going to slice it till it was nothing more than insignificant particles of dare they kidnap Tomoyo?_

'One more thing before we rush in,' Masooma said quietly looking at him with her brown soulful eyes, 'if they are not in there I want you to get out of there and head off towards the central parts of the building,' she said holding her hand up to his forehead, he felt it heat up slightly where she touched him, 'now you won't have trouble finding the place where you want to go, even if I'm not with you.' She said with a small smile.

'What do you mean?' Kurogane asked with narrowed eyes.

'I just implanted a map of this place in your mind,' she replied as she removed her hand.

'No, I meant what do you mean _not with me_?' Kurogane growled. 'You don't think there up ahead?'

'I think the one I was looking for is in there.' She said as the smile disappeared, 'so,' a maniacal grin spread on her visage, giving her a twisted look, 'I might have to stay back. In that case,' she said as she turned back towards the passage, 'get Fuuma and Syaoran to come help you in the ceremonial chambers along with everyone else.' She then pointed towards the wall to their left where a shuriken was buried halfway in the wall. Blue runes, very much like the ones Fay used for his magic, glowed in complex patterns along its surface.

'Fay made those for Sakura,' she told him, 'and that is what makes me think they might not be up ahead.'

'But it won't hurt if we still check.' He said with a slight nod of his head before walking past her in the direction of the cell. Once they reached a heavy steel door with bars in a small window near the top Masooma put a hand on his shoulder, telling him to stop. She pointed towards the wall opposite to the door. There they were again, three shuriken buried halfway in the wall. Beneath each respective shuriken was a small heap of vampire-dust.

Masooma raised her hand and wrote a small spell in the air before her, crimson runes appeared which stuck to the door; melting it to nothing. The inside of the dungeon was dark so nothing could be seen but Kurogane could sense one single person inside.

'Hello Masooma,' spoke a soft female voice spoke as two feral eyes glowed from the depths of the darkness.

'Kurogane,' Masooma hissed as she brought up her daggers and got in a fighting stance. 'Get out of here.'

'Why still so hostile?' the female asked as she snapped her fingers and the whole place lit up like day. 'Can't we talk this over?'

'I don't have anything to talk to you about,' Masooma spat, 'Xing Ho.'

'Damn!' Fay hissed as he crouched behind the railing of the balcony. He was currently the only one of the group who had managed to get to the ceremonial chambers. Tomoyo and Sakura were chained to the floor in the very centre, right before Ashura and Fei Wong Reed. Did this mean Sakura was the sacrifice? She did have the feather shaped tattoo entwined with the symbol of a bat, on her upper arms. That and she was also being held in place by Fei's binding spell. 'Where _are_ you guys?' he hissed in his radio.

'I think we're outside the ceremonial chamber,' Syaoran's voice crackled. 'It's this oak door with golden leaflets all over it.'

'Okay don't barge right in.' Fay hissed, 'they've got Tomoyo and Sakura down there. There is a window opposite to the door. It leads to the roof. A window leads to the upper floor of this chamber. I'm up here.'

'We're coming.' Himawari's voice crackled.

'Time to summon Mokona I guess.' Fay thought as he wrote a spell. The white rabbit appeared in a puff of smoke. 'Mokona, when the time comes, I need you to go with Syaoran and nullify Fei's binding spells, okay?'

'okay.' the white rabbit nodded.

'Good. then hide over there and wait till they get here.' He pointed to a book case near the window as he drew his darts. 'I have some business to attend to.' He said as he set the creature down and walked away from his spot by the balcony. He could sense the real Fay nearby.

He crept along the dark balcony till he was exactly opposite to the point where he had entered from. Stairs led from this point towards the lower levels of the chamber. And right there in the middle of the flight of steps was Fay. The real Fay. Yuui threw some darts in his direction to get his attention.

'You finally decided to come?' the blond vampire said as dodged the incoming projectiles and turned around to face his twin at the top of the stairs. He jumped up to the top step, right next to his twin.

'Kamui.' A cold yet familiar voice spoke just when the said vampire was about to climb into the upper storey of the ceremonial chamber after the others. The dark haired vampire stopped as he motioned with his head for the others to carry on. He then turned around to face the familiar yet completely alien aura of the vampire who had called him. The vampire face was currently obscured by the hood he had pulled over his head.

'You're…' Kamui gasped as the hood was pulled off by the vampire.

'Good to see you too brother.' His mirror spoke in the same cold voice.

'S-Subaru?' Kamui asked in disbelief.

'I'm afraid I can't let you stop Ashura and Fei.' Subaru said in the same inhuman voice as his nails elongated.

'Is that so?' Kamui growled as he overcame the shock of seeing his twin like that. This vampire before him was not his brother. He was different even if he was the same person. It was almost as if…

'You're not Subaru, are you?' Kamui said as he drew his crossbow, 'even if you're not any different from him.'

'That's true.' Subaru replied with a smirk, 'you're twin is no more.'

'In that case.' Kamui raised his crossbow and aimed at the vampire's chest, 'I won't let you stop me.' He pulled the trigger and an arrow whizzed through the air, straight for the vampire's heart. Subaru grinned like a maniac as he sliced the arrow into tiny shreds.

'Catch me if you can.' Subaru said as he jumped off the roof. Kamui followed him soon after.

Fay grinned as he summoned two gold daggers using his magic and for a moment the two brothers circled each other warily before the vampire advanced at lightning speed. Yuui countered just as swiftly, evading one sweep, stepping under the follow-up jab. He returned the attacks using his silver staff -which he had summoned around the same time Fay had summoned his daggers- but those were just as skillfully blocked and avoided.

'See dear brother,' Fay said cheerfully, 'didn't I tell you drinking is bad for you. You fight much better when not drunk.' Yuui growled at the smiling vampire before him as the two circled each other again. Their eyes never left one another, watching for an opening, a misstep...anything that could give them the advantage.

'Oh by the way,' Fay said as the grin on his face turned sadistic, 'I know your essence is in that girl.'

Yuui's eyes widened in shock upon hearing this, taking this as the advantage he had been waiting for Fay lunched forward once more, thrusting his daggers towards his twin. Fortunately Yuui deflected the blow, returning with an attack of his own, which the vampire sidestepped. Lashing out with his heel, he caught Yuui's leg. Grabbing the hunter's arm Fay tried to spin his brother around but Yuui twisted his wrist, pulled back and threw his body to the side, flipping Fay over his back.

Fay landed firmly on his feet and responded with a rapid series of attacks that drove the other back a few paces, forcing him onto the defensive.

The blond vampire followed up with a slash to his left which forced Yuui to step to the right. Unfortunately Fay had predicted as much. As Yuui moved to the side, Fay was already there, and Yuui just barely had enough time to bring his arm up to keep the knife from cutting his throat.

With no time to his staff for a proper block, Yuui caught the knife with his forearm, grimacing as he jumped back. The knife slid down the length of his arm - slicing his skin like tissue paper and leaving an ugly gash.

He shoved the golden blade back on itself, freeing himself from the cornered position that Fay had been attempting to maneuver him into. As he spun away, Fay brought the hilt of his knife down in an unexpected move, driving it painfully into brother's already wounded arm.

The unexpected pain forced Yuui to stumble, ever so slightly and immediately he regretted his mistake. He knew what was coming but was powerless against it as his moment of inattention gave Fay the opportunity he'd been waiting for.

Fay thrust one knife around behind Yuui's neck, forcing him to move closer to him to avoid the blade. He felt the hunter's steps falter lightly, as if preparing himself for the pain, as he drove the second one forward. They were barely inches apart and Fay's grin widened in sadistic amusement as Yuui's eyes registered both shock and pain. Acting solely out of instinct, Yuui jolted to the side and twisted away in a desperate effort to keep the weapon from its intended path into his vital organs. Unfortunately his brother's strength was more than his own, rendering Yuui unable to save himself from the knife that drove into his side.

The damage done might not have been fatal for the time being but the pain was shocking, momentarily incapacitating him. With a pitiless chuckle, Fay twisted the knife sharply and Yuui cried out, doubling forward.

Instead of trying to pull away, Yuui sprang up and towards his brother, ignoring the jolt of pain from the knife, and rammed his knee into the vampire's shin, knocking him back. Instinctively, Fay dropped one of his knives as he stumbled backwards.

Unfortunately, Fay still had his hand on the knife in the hunter's side and when he yanked it free, a fresh wave of pain left Yuui reeling. Unconsciously, Yuui staggered back - an automatic response to the pain.

The vampire took advantage of his twin's vulnerable position and threw a hard punch to Yuui's injured side. He then raised his fist up and dealt a harsh blow to the blonde's face, shocking his system. With lightning reflexes, Fay then knocked the staff from his brother's damaged hand, disarming him.

He caught hold of his bleeding arm, making Yuui cry out in pain once more, and swung him in a circle before letting go. This action sent the blond hunter flying straight to the stone wall –one storey down- where he crumpled in a heap after colliding with it.

'You shouldn't be doing that.' Fay said returning his attention back to chocolate-eyed teenager currently busy in freeing the source and the sacrifice from their shackles with the help of a white rabbit.

'Go,' the boy hissed as the shackles dropped from the source's wrists and he sped up the job of trying to unbind the girl. Well the source was no longer important; the essence had been extracted for a while now. As a matter of fact it had already been inserted into the auburn-haired, green-eyed girl.

Fay smiled to himself at the boy's weak attempts. Didn't he know the sacrifice was bound using magic? Only the magician who had bound her could free her now. Oh well. It was time to finish his job; he still had to transfer one last essence to the sacrifice. Seeing as his brother's essence was already in the girl.

'The kid and the others should be in there by now,' he thought as he stopped right before a set of large oak doors with gold leaflets set in the carved wood. Using one hand he pushed against the door which opened up noiselessly to reveal a strange sight. Fuuma, Himawari, Doumeki, Watanuki, the witch and the old vampire were all busy fighting off a horde of vampires. The kid was with the manju bun and had already unbound Tomoyo. He was currently busy freeing the girl. As the hunter raced in to help the kid, his path was cut short by two vampires.

Kurogane dodged as the vampire duo slashed their claws aiming for Kurogane's vitals. One of them swiped his hand towards his heart but Kurogane was ready for the move and avoided it easily, catching the vampire with a quick, hard blow to the base of his skull. The creature slumped to the ground immediately unconscious. The vampire's partner did not take kindly to that and rushed at Kurogane a moment later.

The hunter calmly dodged this onslaught and dropped his shoulder, ramming it into the stomach of the a newer much more bulkier vampire who had come to attack, easily flipping the burly thing over his back and sending him crashing to the wall. Recovering quickly, the first vampire to rush him tried to catch Kurogane in a headlock, but he was simply too fast for him. Dipping out of his grasp faster than the vampire could have thought possible for anyone- even a vampire- Kurogane left the fellow grasping only air. By this time the second vampire had jumped back to his feet, rushing forward at the at the speed of lightening he tackled Kurogane, knocking the crimson-eyed hunter to the ground beneath his weight.

Kurogane recovered fast and got his legs between himself and the vampire on top of him, quickly flipping the thing off and sending him flying directly to the wall once more.

The other vampire tried to punch the hunter but found his arm caught and twisted behind his back instead, and much to the burly man's chagrin, he could not wrench free of his opponent's iron grasp no matter how hard he tried. Wasting no time Kurogane thrust his sword directly through the creature's heart. With an inhuman cry of anguish the vampire disintegrated, leaving behind nothing more than ashes.

Returning to his attention to the vampire he had sent flying to the wall- who happened to be getting to his feet once more Kurogane raised his sword as a twisted grin formed on his lips, 'this will be fun.'

Meanwhile Kamui was facing off his own twin and funnily enough he was losing despite the fact that he was the better fighter amongst the two. A hard blow across the back of his head threw him forward. Kamui barely caught himself, falling to his hands and knees on the cold and damp forest floor. The rough yet pointy stones-littered about the entire place- tore at his palms and his head buzzed painfully as the dark trees wavered in front of his eyes. The strike had come dangerously close to knocking him unconscious and his body reeled, unresponsive to the jumbled commands his mind was screaming at it.

A foot kicked him sharply in the ribs as the vampire struggled to regain himself and make the world stop spinning. 'Don't think you can get away with this.' he growled angrily as he pushed himself back to his feet despite the pain. 'You're not my brother.'

A bright flash of lightening and a loud peal of thunder echoed overhead announcing the arrival of unexpected rain clouds.

Kamui's fist slammed into Subaru's midsection, making him double over. A fiery pain shot up his arm in the place where Masooma's protective tattoo was. His hand automatically moved to clutch the spot. 'That tattoo won't last for long,' his twin informed him, 'since Ashura's magic can wear it off with ease.' A hard blow to the face cut his lip and blood spilled down Kamui's chin.

A rustling patter followed by quickening drops of moisture, almost invisible in the dark, told that the rain had started up.

Kamui grasped desperately at the edges of his awareness, trying to pull himself together, despite the waves of pain wracking his body now. But his twin gave him no time to recover or react.

"Whatcha gonna do little brother?' Subaru sneered as he purposefully punched Kamui in the face again. The blood that traced now from Kamui' nose and mouth mingled with the quickening rain as his brother hammered him in the ribs.

The vampire doubled over, unable to stay on his feet by himself, he fell to the ground. Kamui steeled his jaw as his senses and responses began to come back to him. This had gone quite far enough. The rain was making everything slick and slippery and Kamui waited for the right moment, taking a deep breath and keeping his head down as his brother's hand grabbed the front of his overcoat, preparing to jerk him back up right again.

Moving faster than an average vampire, Kamui brought his head up quickly, causing the back of his skull to connect solidly with the jaw of the vampire standing over him. Kamui then fell to the ground as he swept his leg in a circle to catch his twin's leg.

**A/N: hey everybody. This is the longest chapter that I have written so far but it might be the longest one since I'm thinking there are around four chapters left till the end.**

**Mokona: Hyuu… Kuro-tan finally gets to fight.**

**Kuro-tan: it's KUROGANE!!! And about time I slayed something. **

**Me: well that's because you've been such a good little puppy lately so I thought why not. ;)**

**Kuro-tan: (yells angrily) TYPE MY NAME PROPERLY YOU STUPID AUTHOR. IT SPELLS K.U.R.O.G.A.N.E. IS THAT SO HARD TO REMEMBER???**

**Me: (looks around frantically) Um… wow. Would you look at the time? It's4 a.m. I really need to be putting this chapter up by now.**

**Kuro-tan: That's much better, you got it right this ti.. HEY!!!**

**Me: Gotta run for my life. An angry puppy is out to slay me. Waah… helllpppp!!!**

**Syaoran: (bored tone) As you can all see, the author has once again incurred the wrath of 'big puppy'.**

**Kuro-tan: WHAT THE HELL IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE AND MUTILATING MY NAME??? (draws his sword and runs in Syaoran's direction.)**

**Syaoran: (squeals like a girl and starts running with me) Look what you made me do Nims. Now he's after me 2.**

**Me: (still running)this is soo not my fault.**

**Cloud Strife: hey has anyone seen my sword?**

**Me: (turns around and points) Kuro-tan stole it.**

**Cloud: That guy?**

**Me: yup.**

**Kuro-puppy: I give up, you are demented.**

**Cloud: (tackles Kuro just as he stops running) Gimme back my sword you thief.**

**Me: (grabs Syaoran, popcorns and Fay to sit and watch) this ought to be good.**

**Fay: (waves a hand in my face to get no response. Shakes his head) well, why don't you guys head up to the review room? I'm pretty sure you can get dvd's of this fight over there. (Tomoyo snickers as she summons a camera and begins filming.)**


	22. Chapter 21

_Flashback:_

_The blond was running and jumping across the rooftops when he heard a scream pierce through the night. It had come from the direction he was heading to. As he approached the place where he had sensed the aura he saw something that made his blood run cold. There on the dirty street was a young girl, in her early teens. She was lying in a pool of her own blood and was panting for air as she lost more and more of her precious life source. Forgetting the vampires he was hunting he jumped to the road where the girl was. Her body was convulsing slightly as her pants turned to gasps._

_The venom was acting on her. She was transforming. He drew a stake from its holder in his belt and held it over her heart when she opened her eyes. They were the eyes of an innocent. _

'_H-he-lp…' She croaked as she raised a hand towards him. Fay dropped the stake in shock. This girl was Touya's younger sister, Sakura._

'_Shit. What the hell was she doing here?' he said as he dropped to his knees and cradled the girl in his arms. He began muttering under his breath as he pulled back the sleeve of his shirt. He picked up the pointed stake and used its tip to form a small cut on his forearm. As his own blood started to spill his eyes flash gold before returning to their usual sapphire. He brought his bleeding arm to her punctured neck. Letting the drops of crimson liquid fall onto her neck he began writing a spell in the air. The blue runes entwined with the blood forming a circular tattoo around the puncture. The wound began to close and the girl's breathing evened lightly._

_He did the same procedure on her arm sealing the bite completely. The girl gave a shuddering gasp before slumping in his arms completely. He looked around to make sure no one was around before starting another complex spell. When the spell was complete, a small green pearl floated out of his chest and settled into the girl. Sighing sadly he picked the girl up bridal style and jumped back to the roof. He would hunt the coven some time later. Right now Touya needed to see this._

_End of Flashback_

Yuui pushed himself off the cold floor using his good arm. Fay had just thrown Syaoran away like a rag doll and was currently inserting his own essence into Sakura. Yuui knew he had to stop him before he could complete the procedure. He looked around for his staff and found out that it lay just a few feet away from him.

Snatching it from the ground Yuui rushed at his twin who had let go of Sakura by now. Swinging it a full three sixty degrees he caught his twin in the side and threw him away from his adoptive sister.

'Are you okay?' Yuui stopped to ask the auburn haired girl as Mokona jumped up to her once more.

'I'm fine but you're bleeding.' She said looking at the crimson liquid that stained what little was visible of his shirt and jeans beneath his long overcoat.

'No worries,' Yuui said waving his hand lightly, 'it's just a few scratches. Mokona please hurry up and unbind Sakura then grab Syaoran and get these two out of here.' With that he began twirling his staff to create a blue shield of magical energy which deflected the spells thrown their way by his twin.

'Okay,' the rabbit nodded as a small red beam emerged from its jewel and fell on the symbols of the binding spell.

'Oh I almost forgot,' Yuui said as he dug into the pockets of his coat and drew Sakura's stakes. 'You will need these now.' He threw them at the girl who caught them since she was free now.

'Be careful.' Sakura said as she watched her brother advance towards his twin.

'You too,' Yuui called back as he dodged his brother's blades.

'Sakura!' Mokona cried drawing her attention towards the oncoming hoard of vampires.

'Get Syaoran, I'll hold them off.' She told the rabbit as a wild looking vampire advance towards her. She ducked to avoid the swipe aimed for her head, spun around while still crouching and swung her leg upwards to hit the vampire straight across its chest. Then she aimed another kick at its legs with her other foot and made it lose its footing. Swiftly she put the stake through its heart, before it even hit the ground. The vampire crumbled to dust with a howl of pain.

Seeing the demise of their comrade several of the vampires elongated their claw-like nails; they wanted her blood and intended to have it. The teenager in turn raised her own twin daggers like stakes whilst ignoring the strange numbness creeping through her body.

The vampires lunged at her all at once and she was hard pressed to keep up with them for several moments. She didn't even have time for conscious thought, only movement as she twisted, turned, jabbed, sliced and kicked. Landing on one knee, she ducked under a swipe aimed for her neck, but could not avoid a thrust that cut through the right shoulder of her jacket and shirt, drawing blood.

Pushing back the pain, Sakura rolled with the blow and dodged another, one of her blades finding home in the flesh of an attacker's neck. Drawing her weapon from the magically cleaned air again Sakura spun to face the next closest threat. The fight was much shorter than it felt, but most of it passed in a blur of claws, sharpened steel- belonging to a few vampires and blood- that belonged to her. When Sakura finally realized that no one was attacking her anymore she looked around, numerous heaps of ashes lay in around her.

In the distance Sakura saw Syaoran fighting off a large number of vampires all at once but where he slew one creature two more appeared to take its place. Despite that Syaoran was cutting though them all at a reasonably stable rate.

'Watch out,' Sakura yelled as she ran towards the vampire sneaking up on Syaoran from behind him. He reached behind him to grab the creature, slamming it into his waiting sword. He dodged a blow aimed for his chest and jumped up in the air flipping in midair to land behind the vampire coming for him, catching it in a headlock before thrusting his sword straight through its back till it appeared through the creature's chest; it gave a cry of agony before crumbling to dust. But even though Syaoran was slaying the creatures like there was no tomorrow, there were still too many for him to fight off by himself, so Sakura decided to lend the boy a hand.

Meanwhile Yuui had his hands full as well since now Fay wasn't his only opponent anymore.

_How many new vampires have they managed to recruit or most probably control? _He thought as he dodged yet another attack aimed his way, ignoring the pain in his side and arm, Yuui shifted his weight on his feet as he spun low on the ground, successfully tripping the vampire in front him; thrusting his staff backwards he managed to catch the one behind him in the stomach. Before it actually turned to dust Yuui twisted the staff, vampire and all, above his head slamming it into the one he had tripped earlier. The satisfying crunch of their necks and their transformation into dust informed him that the two creatures were dead indeed.

Yuui twirled his staff around him like a twig before swinging it at Fay as he tried to jump him from the side. The vampire flew up in the air, while Yuui, using the momentum of the throw, slammed the pole vertically into the earth catapulting himself into the air as well where he slammed his leg into Fay sending him to the floor with a resounding thud, before landing on top of the still vertical pole gracefully.

*********************

Drawing his fist back, Kurogane lunged at the cleft-chinned vampire, Fei Wong Reed. The vampire was clearly unnerved for a moment before it flipped away from the hunter. Kurogane growled as his fist met thin air. Spinning, he brought his leg at the creature's ankle but the vampire moved just inches outside of his range and pressed his hands together to summon the black sword he owned.

'You're finished!' the vampire cried as a crimson flame emanated from his sword and spiraled towards Kurogane.

'Not even.' Kurogane growled as he crouched down while slamming his fist into the ground. A slab of earth tore up through the ground, providing him with a make-shift shield. Using the momentum that of the small earthquake he had generated, he flipped onto his hands and planted his feet against the wedge of rock, shattering it into hundreds of sharp spikes all headed in the direction of Fei Wong Reed. Forced to relinquish his upper hand, the vampire dashed left to avoid injury. Sliding to a halt, he sent another wave of scarlet and orange blaze at Kurogane, who flipped away arcing twice before coming to a stop.

Kurogane noticed that Fei was trying to make his way over to the idiot's sister who was fighting alongside the kid just a few feet away from them.

'You're not getting away!' Kurogane yelled angrily as he swung his sword at the vampire to regain his attention.

'Foolish mortal.' Fei said slowly as he raised two fingers to write another spell. Kurogane cart-wheeled over the row of electricity coming his way and came at the vampire again. He dropped; extending his leg as he spun round in a circle, kicking the vampire's legs right out from under him. As he went toppling back, Kurogane rolled himself into a handstand and brought his legs under the vampire's back. The creature rose slightly with the blow and he was able to leap up, pull his fist back, and land a critical blow to the vampire's stomach. The force of the punch was so great that the wall Fei slammed into was fractured greatly even though it was made out of stone.

Panting very slightly, Kurogane dropped back into a defensive guard and waited for the creature's retaliation.

*********************************

A collective cry of rage tore through the group of vampires attacking Watanuki and his friends when they saw their three leaders crumble to dust at the hands of Doumeki, Fuuma and Yuuko. They attacked, extending clawed hands to attack the group of seven. Himawari side stepped the first thrust that came at her back. Pivoting on her leg, she landed a solid blow to the vampire's chest. Quickly straightening her leg, she twisted in a pirouette that sent four more sprawling. Beside her, Watanuki quickly leveled a claw away from his ribcage as he brought his knee into the creature's stomach. Tossing the stunned vampire aside, he gained a precious few seconds to flip away from a group rally at his back. Seishiro and Tomoyo were the ones who were dealing fatal blows to all the stunned or unconscious vampires thrown away by the other two, since this was a much faster way. Doumeki, working quickly, had launched his impassive self between the onslaughts. Catching hold of the oncoming claws he swung their owners round in a circle before letting go. The vampires collided with their own mates resulting in a mess of jumbled arms and legs. This time Yuuko was the one who got rid of the nuisances.

**********************************

'Come on Masooma,' Xing said as she somersaulted over Masooma's well-placed sweeping kick, 'we could talk this over.' She said lashing out at the back of the hunter's neck. Masooma, sensing this attack, twisted her upper body and caught the appendage.

'There is nothing left to talk about. You took away everything! I have no more reason to listen to you.' Using it as a rail she hauled herself up while simultaneously dragging the vampire into her waiting fist.

'That _is_ very unfortunate,' Xing Ho said as she dodged her punch and landed a solid blow to Masooma's torso. 'Because in this case, only one of us will survive.'

Reeling back, Masooma flipped and landed firmly on her feet, she pushed herself up and lunged at the vampire once more, her knee meeting the other's stomach.

'My idea, exactly,' Masooma said as the other vampire doubled over due to pain; a moment later Masooma slammed her elbow into the small of Xing's back. She then spun her whole body while extending her arms outwards to hit the vampire with her dagger. Xing moved out of the way at the last second to avoid a fatal injury but still got her arm cut by the second dagger.

'Great moves,' Xing said as her eyes changed to a cat-like golden, 'you managed to cut me but sadly,' she said as the cut quickly healed, 'this won't be enough to help you survive.' With that Xing Ho raised her hand and a black sphere of magical energy appeared in it. She threw the sphere at the raven-haired vampire who avoided the blast by cart-wheeling to the side.

'oh there is a lot more where that came from,' Masooma said as the brown in her own eyes also changed to gold, she dropped and spun--using her extended leg to land a blow to the other's ankles. Even though it did not do any lasting damage, the blow was more than enough to drop the vampire.

*********************

Yuui gripped his twin's hand with his free one- the one that wasn't gripping his staff-, twisted and spun; effectively pinning the vampire, he planted his foot between the other's shoulder blades to keep him down. He swung his staff in a wide circle to keep the other vampires at bay who were currently hissing and raising their respective weapons for an attack.

A thin smile crept across his lips as he retracted the staff and began writing a spell with it's tip.

The deep blue runes hanging in mid air began forming millions of icy-blue cherry blossoms, dancing in a lethal spiral. The magical Sakuras drifted away from him, adhering to anything they touched, freezing it utterly as they blossomed into complete flowers; next the blooming blossoms turned to sharp pointy icicles which shot straight through their victims' hearts finishing them off for good. All the vampires around the blond hunter turned to ashes save for one, the vampire pinned beneath him.

'Ah the _Frigid_ _Spring_ spell.' Fay said softly as he witnessed the demise of his minions, 'doesn't it use up a lot of energy, bro?' he asked innocently even though he knew the effects of the spell on its caster full well.

As an answer to his question Yuui's grip loosened on his arm and Fay was able to throw him off.

'Ashura has got what he wanted,' Fay said with a smirk, 'so there is no need for me to stick around. Later, bro.' he said as he began writing a transportation spell.

'Fay!' Yuui cried out weakly as the vampire vanished right before his eyes. The pain in his side and his arm came at him in full blast rendering him unable to do anything but watch helplessly as Ashura advanced towards Sakura and Syaoran while they fought off the weaker vampires. At a small distance from the teens Kurogane was busy battling Fei Wong. Yuuko and the others were also hard pressed to keep up with the vampires attacking them in the corridor outside the ceremonial chamber. Masooma and Kamui were nowhere in sight but since he could still detect their aura this meant that they were busy fighting in some other part of the building.

But even though Yuui knew exactly where each and every one of his friends was, he also knew that none of them was in a position to go help the two teenagers as the strongest vampire descended upon them.

*************

One minute Syaoran was fighting right beside her and the next he was gone along with every other vampire in the vicinity. Sakura's eyes widened as she looked around her. Vampire dust was filling the air and Syaoran was busy fighting a handsome vampire with sleek shoulder length black hair.

'This must be Ashura. She thought as she panted for air. A stitch was forming in her side and she was extremely thirsty but now was not the time for rest or drinks so she tightened her grip on the handles of her stakes and stealthily crept towards the handsome vampire. The vampire muttered something quietly and Syaoran found his feet leaving the ground. He rose about ten feet into the air before falling back down like a rock. His sword fell a few feet away from him but before he could reach out for it he realized that his body seemed to have frozen as it fell. He could not move his arms or legs or even his head for that matter. The vampire, Ashura was currently muttering a new spell. Syaoran followed his line of vision only to find that the creature was looking at Sakura, who was also frozen the way she had been standing.

'Who would have thought that I would be biting the same human twice.' He said softly as touched Sakura's face. 'Have no fear young lady; you will be freed soon enough. I just need your blood, that's all.' He said serenely as he put his other hand on her shoulder and pushed her head apart to reveal her neck where the seal that Yuui had made two years ago started to glow.

'This will be over sooner than you think.' Ashura said with a smile as he bent his head backwards and brought down his fangs to her neck…

_**A/N: uh oh. I think I ended this chapter on a little cliffy. Will somebody arrive in time to save Sakura or will Ashura get what he had been trying to get for God knows how long? You can find out in the next chapter since I am not telling anyone.**_

_**Kurogane: you call this fighting?**_

_**Me: well excuse me for not being perfect.**_

_**Kurogane: I mean if this were really me fighting that cleft-chinned monocle wearing bastard he would have been dead ages ago along with every other single one of those vampires.**_

_**Me: but since it's not really you and just my imagination just deal with it, okay? I'm not really good when it comes to writing down the action scenes.**_

_**Kurogane: I can see that.**_

_**Me: I know, by the way Mokona just stole your last bottle of sake.**_

_**Kurgz: WHAT?!? NOOOO!!! (runs off after the bouncing ball of fluffy cuteness)**_

_**Me: so glad that's over.**_

_**Watanuki: erm, where in the world are all these vampires coming from?**_

_**Me: how should I know? Go ask the author.**_

_**Fay: but aren't you the author?**_

_**Me: of course I am. Why would you ask such a silly question?**_

_**Syaoran: well it's because you just told Watanuki to ask the author about the origin of the new vampires when you yourself are the said person.**_

_**Me: and your point is?**_

_**Watanuki: never mind. (turns to face you all) just head over to the review room if you want to live since Nims just loaded a tracer-cookie into this author's note. **_

_**Me: that's right. Now I will know where all you readers hide, after you read this story and not review. Then I will come hunt you all down and… and... Erm well do something really evil… like… like steal all your chocolate chip and peanut cookies and… and hide them in my closet. Oh yeah! I am definitely gonna do that.**_

_**Everyone: X-X**_


	23. Chapter 22

'This will be over sooner than you think.' Ashura said with a smile as he bent his head backwards and brought down his fangs to her neck. Sakura's eyes widened in fear when she realized that she was going to die and no one was going to come and save her. She struggled against the spell binding her but Ashura just chuckled as his fangs punctured her skin lightly and she started to bleed. He removed his mouth from her neck to breath in her ear, 'It's futile to struggle young one.'

Just as he was about to return back to the task of feeding something happened. Something that neither Sakura nor Ashura, himself, would have thought possible. A scream escaped from the lips of the dark-haired vampire as a blue glow appeared in his chest where his heart should be; this was closely followed by the appearance of the tip of a glowing sapphire stake at the exact same point.

'Leave my sister alone.' Fay said dangerously as the vampire turned to ashes and Sakura found herself looking straight into those mismatched eyes.

'Fay,' she exclaimed happily as the power of mobility returned to her limbs. She ran to the blond to hug him, 'how's your wound?' she asked as she let go of his wet overcoat.

'It's fine.' He lied as he lowered the staff and leaned against it.

They heard someone swear just then. Three heads turned in the direction from where the curse had originated. Kurogane had narrowly avoided being sliced in half by Fei Wong Reed. Their fight was intense; swords clashing so fast that they appeared to be just a blur, Kurogane dodging the countless spells being thrown at him by the burly vampire while at the same time managing to counter the vampire's attacks.

Just then Tomoyo and the others, minus Kamui, Yuuko and Masooma, appeared in the doorway to their right. This meant all the vampires outside had been dealt with or they had just fled.

'You can do it Kurogane!' Tomoyo yelled in encouragement as the crimson-eyed hunter managed to stab Fei in the arm.

'Go get him Kuro-tan.' Fay shouted as well, despite his rapidly failing strength. His hands were growing numb with each passing second and his legs were threatening to give way beneath him any second. Despite the support of the staff Fay was having trouble keeping himself steady.

'Just a little bit longer,' Fay thought as he tightened his grip on the silver staff. Lucky for him the two teenagers standing next to him had not yet noticed his current state. Well that was partly due to the fact that they were busy cheering Kurogane, partly because his long coat covered his bleeding wound perfectly well and partly because the one person who could have noticed that was not there at the minute. She was busy fighting another vampire. Regardless of these facts Fay knew that it won't be long before someone noticed the small pool of crimson forming at his feet as his blood continued to flow unchecked from the wound.

'Come on,' he thought desperately as he tried to remember an appropriate healing spell that he may be able to perform himself. He was no good when it came to healing, 'Stay on your feet a little bit longer.' He willed himself but unfortunately, for him though, his body was no longer under his control. Darkness covered his eyes for a while and Fay could sense distantly that he was slipping to the floor.

'AAARGH!!!' Fei cried out as Kurogane's sword sliced straight through his heart.

'And that,' Kurogane spat as the vampire tuned to ashes, 'is for everything you have done to us.'

'You did it.' Syaoran said enthusiastically.

'It wasn't that hard.' Kurogane grinned as he sheathed his sword and walked towards the group of hunters.

'Hyuu Kuro-tan,' Fay said weakly, 'you were great.' His grip on the staff slackened and it clattered noisily on the marble floor.

'FAY!!!' a collective cry ran through the group at the sound of metal clanging on the floor. Turning to the place where the blond had been standing a while ago found the said man flat on the floor, lying in a small pool of his own blood. Everyone rushed to his side.

'Oye mage.' Kurogane said gently as he lifted the man up and propped him against the wall. 'Hang in there.' He said as he quickly started removing his coat.

'Kid!' He barked as he rolled the garment up and pressed it against the blonde's wound to stem the flow of blood pouring out of the gash. 'Try to find the witch.'

'Okay.' Syaoran nodded as he ran outside.

'I'll help,' Himawari, Watanuki and Fuuma said at the same time.

'Great, just hurry and find her.' Seishiro said as he came closer to the pale blond.

Sakura just stood there like a statue, staring at her brother in shock for a short while before she pushed back the tears threatening to fall and hurried next too Kurogane.

'Patch up his arm if you can.' Kurogane said in a monotone. She nodded in response as she tore of a part of her jacket with the help of her stake and used it to bandage the blonde's arm.

'Why are you crying Sakura?' Fay smiled weakly as he felt something warm and wet fall on his arm. 'You just got all your memories back, shouldn't you be happy.'

'I'm not happy; my memories are going to cost you your life.' She said as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and resumed tying the knot on the makeshift bandage.

'I'm fine Sakura.' Fay said as he attempted to smile once more.

'Don't lie to me,' she croaked as tears streamed down her face, 'because I know you're not .You're the exact opposite of fine.'

'No,' Fay shook his head, 'I am.'

'How?' she cried, 'look at how much blood you've lost.'

'I might not have managed to free Fay,' he replied, 'but my sister,' he coughed violently, 'knows who she is. I'm glad I managed to realize at least one of my wishes in time.'

'Fay, please don't talk this way,' Sakura said in a pleading way. 'Syaoran will find Yuuko and you'll be fine.'

'don't waste your wishes Sakura,' he said as he shook his head weakly, he then turned his head to look at the crimson-eyed hunter currently attempting to stop his bleeding.

'I'm sorry…' Fay started but he was cut short by a violent coughing fit, '…for being… too much of a… pest, Kuro-tan.' He finally managed to say through the coughs as a trickle of blood leaked from his mouth.

'Shut up Flourite,' Kurogane growled angrily, 'stop talking like these are your last words. The witch can patch you up once she gets here.'

Fay once again shook his head as he smiled sadly at him before turning his attention to the lavender eyed girl, 'Make sure he is nice to the kids Miss Tomoyo.'

'Fay please…' she started but the rest of her words were drowned in an ear splitting shriek.

'I think… Masooma has dealt her… final blow.' Fay said weakly as another smile illuminated his face for a short while before he started coughing once again. 'Too bad… I won't be around long enough to… celebrate.' He managed to say in between his coughs.

'You are not going to die damn it!' Kurogane shouted angrily as he caught hold of the blonde's shirt and pulled it upwards so that Fay's face was level with his own.

'Sorry Kuro-tan, but,' Fay smiled weakly as blood kept on trickling out of his mouth, 'you don't get to order me around anymore.'

A vein throbbed in Kurogane's temple but before the taller man could hit the blond they heard hurried footsteps approaching them. It was Masooma, Watanuki and Kamui.

'Oh God!' Masooma breathed as she ran over to them, 'let me see that.' She said urgently to Kurogane, who obliged quickly moving out of her way. Masooma removed the folded piece of garment away from the wound; Fay's shirt was soaked in his own blood by now. She quickly tore it off of the wounded area so that she could examine the wound. Because Ashura was dead, the curse wound was no longer effective meaning Fay no longer had the healing abilities of a vampire since he was back to being a human now.

'Damn it!' she cursed under her breath when an ordinary healing spell did not work.

'M-Masooma…' Fay said feebly, his body was failing him and it was getting harder for him to stay conscious, he didn't have much time left.

'Shut up Fay,' she hissed as her palms started to glow a deep shade of crimson; she placed them over the gash in his side. It was obvious Fay (the real one) had cursed his blades so that the wounds could only be healed by a magician of very high caliber which was extremely rare. Luckily enough she fit the bill so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

As soon as she touched the wound, Fay's couching fit returned with full force but she did not stop.

'Don't… do it…' He coughed weakly. 'It's not… going to work.'

'I won't let you die,' she said determinedly as she racked her brain for an appropriate solution to the predicament. The vampire had not used an ordinary curse on his daggers; even the highest level healing spell was failing to repair the damaged tissue.

'It's too late for that…' he said faintly, 's-stop it.' He said as he coughed up more blood.

"I'm going to die no matter what you do." He thought grimly. His twin had cursed the blades in such a manner that the wounds inflicted by them would never heal. Nothing could save him now. Even Yuuko would not be able to repair the gash in his side. Why was she wasting her energy? Why was she _even_ trying? Did she hope to achieve the impossible?

Unable to voice the truth Fay settled with looking at all those people gathered around him, one last time. Kurogane was standing right beside Tomoyo, his hand fisted by his side, Tomoyo was chewing her lip as she watched Masooma work, Seishiro stood next to Kamui and Watanuki; the latter was glancing at the doorway again in hopes that the famous dimensional witch might walk through them and save the dying hunter.

'It's never too late.' She replied stubbornly, she was not about to give up and watch him die.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as Fay's eyes settled back on the raven haired girl; her face set up in determination, brow creased lightly as she concentrated on the task of healing him. His time was almost up and even she knew it; the healing spell was not working. He tried to reach for her hand but he couldn't even summon the small amount of energy required to move that limb. His entire body had grown numb due to loss of blood; he couldn't even feel the pain in his side anymore.

He chuckled darkly as a thought passed his mid.

'what's so funny?' Masooma asked as her brow furrowed even further.

'I never thought… I would be answering that _why_… like this.' He managed to say with a lot of effort, 'it's kind of… cliché… you know…' he chuckled once more but it turned into another coughing fit which resulted n even more blood leaking from his mouth.

'Shush don't speak now.' Masooma hushed him, 'you can answer it after I'm done patching you up.'

But Fay wasn't listening to her, 'I'm sorry… but I'm seconds away… from death...' he gasped, 'let me at least… say it once…' Darkness was tugging at the edges of his vision as it grew blurred with each passing second as he desperately hung on to the breaking threads of his life.

'Don't you dare die Flourite.' Fay heard the Masooma screaming at him but her voice, too, was growing distant.

'I'm sorry,' he whispered an apology faintly; everything was fading away so fast.

'Don't give up Fay!' her voice shouted in the distance, 'stay with me!'

'I'm so sorry,' he sighed as he tried one last time to reach for her hand but his arm would not obey the command to move. He could hear her voice shouting at him in the distance but it was so far away he couldn't even make out what she was saying; her face disappeared from his vision long ago.

'I love you….' Fay sighed as the darkness engulfed his being completely and the last of his fading breaths escaped from his lungs, his eyes slid shut off their own accord as his head rolled to one side and his body fell limp.

Sakura hiccupped as tears kept flowing from her bloodshot eyes meanwhile Tomoyo clapped her hands to her mouth as the realization struck them. Kurogane clenched his fists even more, if that was even possible meanwhile Masooma froze upon hearing those words. Her hands kept glowing in an attempt to heal the fatal wound even though Fay was no longer breathing. Everybody else including Kamui also stared wordlessly at the motionless blond.

'Fay,' Masooma said softly, 'please…' she pleaded, 'please, don't do this…' she said once again, 'open your eyes Fay… LOOK AT ME DAMN IT!!!' she finally screamed letting the tears roll down her cheeks freely.

The rest of the group, each carrying his or her own share of grief over the blond's death, watched the girl sadly as she shouted and cried at the magician to wake up.

'Masooma,' Kamui spoke finally when he couldn't take it anymore, 'he's gone. Fay is…'

'NO HE IS NOT DEAD!!! DON'T SAY THAT!' she shrieked at the vampire before turning her attention back to the unresponsive blond, 'YOU LISTEN TO ME Yuui D Flourite! You are not going to die just yet.' She cried as her voice broke down, 'you can't die yet.' She mumbled whilst she kept on attempting to heal the gash in his side.

'Masooma,' Sakura hiccupped as she watched the other girl try again and again, 'he is not coming back.'

'He's gone,' Kurogane said solemnly.

'I am so sorry Masooma.' Yuuko's serene yet extremely sad voice spoke, upon hearing those words Masooma whipped her head around.

'Why didn't you come earlier?' she shrieked in anger, 'you could have _saved _him!'

'No I couldn't have' Yuuko shook her head sadly but Masooma was no longer listening.

'Bring him back.' She ordered in a quiet voice.

'I can not do that,' Yuuko replied gravely.

'You can't or you won't?' She asked through gritted teeth.

'What you ask for is not possible.' Yuuko said to her telepathically, 'the price is much too high for you to pay.'

Masooma did not respond to that; she just sat frozen there, her glowing hands still hovering over the limp blond. Finally after what seemed like ages she let one of her hands to fall by her side, ending the spell. Her other hand moved to cup his cheek as she bent her head over his face and placed a chaste kiss over his cold unresponsive lips before moving away. Masooma's expression hardened slightly as a look of determination crossed her features and her brown eyes and her fists clenched of their own accord.

'I hope you can forgive me for this.' She whispered without removing her gaze from the lifeless body of the once living, breathing vampire hunter. She said this so softly that only Sakura and Kurogane, who were right next to her, were able to hear her.

'Oye, don't do anything stupid.' Kurogane warned the vampire only to receive a strange smile in return.

_**A/N:**__ oh my gosh. I can't believe it. I just killed Fay._

_**Sakura: I can't believe it.**_

_**Me: neither can I.**_

_**Masooma: how could you?**_

_**Me: yeah. How could I?**_

_**Kurogane: we are already very disturbed at the idiot's death so we don't need you to make it ten times worse by repeating everything we say.**_

_**Me: I am soo disturbed at the idiot's death…. Hey wait a second, **_**I am**_** repeating everything you say. Oh no I killed Fay! How did that happen?**_

_**Fay's ghost: (walks out of the computer screen) I believe my dear brother fatally injured me and you decided that he had cursed his blades so that the stupid wounds won't heal by anything.**_

_**Me: Aaaaaa… ghost….**_

_**Fay: (looks around frantically) ghost? Where? **_

_**Everybody else: (runs away screaming like little babies.) GHOST!!!**_

_**Fay's ghost: where is the ghost? I've always wanted to see a ghost.**_

_**Random dude: you're the ghost.**_

_**Fay's ghost: me??? I'm a ghost! (Looks at the random dude for very long) how come you didn't run away?**_

_**Random dude: (pulls off the mask he is wearing to reveal that he is none other than… (Drum roll…) Jack Fenton!!) I am Jack Fenton- the greatest ghost hunter ever- and I am not scared of ghosts. In fact I will prove my greatness by capturing you! (Pulls out a long fishing rod with a ghost catching line which instead of capturing Fay's ghost ends up tying Jack Fenton instead.)**_

_**Fay watches him struggle for a while before he grows bored. **_

_**Fay's ghost: 'I think I'll take a short nap while the greatest ghost hunter untangles himself. You guys head over to the review room and give her a piece of your mind but don't be too harsh. Who knows what she might end up doing next?**_


	24. Chapter 23

_Sakura petals gently floated along the light breeze as a solitary figure made its way across the flat plain atop the mountain. Just one day ago she had come here with a group of acquaintances to bid farewell to somebody important. So much had happened since she had let that person- currently buried under several feet of earth- enter her life. Slowly worming their way into her heart in such a way that now when they were no longer here, she had a gaping hole in the place they had occupied._

_A sad smile made its way across her lips as the breeze picked up slightly and her raven colored locks blew across her pale yet exotic visage. Her eyes were twinkling with unknown emotions as she clutched the pale blue flower- she held in her hands- closer to her chest. The sun shone brilliantly making everything -washed in the rain the previous night- appear like a scene out of some very high quality digital photograph. Everything was fresh and invigorated, glowing in an unearthly way._

_She stopped at the base of an old cherry tree- although it had been a day since the burial had taken place and it had rained all night long- the grave still looked freshly dug. She crouched next to it, gently placing the flower on top of the slightly raised earth, 'it seems like the time has come for us to part ways, ne?' she spoke softly, 'I'm leaving this world for good in a short while. But don't worry; I'll never forget you or what you've done for everyone.' She said as she wiped her eye and straightened up, 'I'm going to miss you.'_

***************************

'What are you planning on doing?' Sakura asked, alarmed at the sudden changes in the vampire's emotions; denial, anger and then calm composure. Something was definitely wrong here.

'Saving your brother of course.' Masooma replied in an isn't-it-obvious tone.

'Masooma…' Yuuko started but fell silent all of a sudden. All eyes were on the older woman so no one noticed the slight flash of gold that had passed in the said girl's eyes after the dimension witch had started speaking.

'_Don't try to stop me Yuuko.'_

'_Do you even _know_ the consequences of your actions?' _

'_I know exactly what I am doing.'_

'…'

'_I have a wish.'_

'_There will be a price.'_

'_One that I am willing to pay… I wish to stay the same till the price is paid.'_

'_Very well you will have to…'_

Once her telepathic conversation with Yuuko was over, Masooma unclenched her fists, placing one hand over the blonde's forehead using the other to start writing a spell in the air before her.

'Sakura could you move back a bit?' she asked calmly as rows upon rows of deep crimson runes appeared from the tips of her outstretched fingers. 'You too Kurogane.' She added serenely. As he did what was asked of him, Kurogane couldn't help but notice the looks on Yuuko's and Seishiro's faces; Yuuko looked deeply troubled whereas Seishiro appeared extremely bewildered, the way his eyes bulged out in surprise and disbelief was hard to miss. Even Kamui's scowl had deepened. He did not know what was going on but one thing was clear, whatever it was wasn't right.

Just then his attention was drawn back to the vampire and the lifeless hunter on the floor as the runes rose in the air forming a circle above the two, rotating around at them, slowly at first but gaining speed as seconds ticked by. The runes began to glow just before speeding up so much that they appeared to be nothing more than glowing streaks of red, Masooma's hair started flying in the magical wind; her eyes turned crimson- just like the magical runes- before she closed them. The circling streaks of crimson began closing in on her until they actually touched her skin; Kurogane stared on in amazement as he saw the spell getting absorbed into her skin.

The symbols were still visible on her skin, dancing across it as their motion began to slow down once again. The lowlights in her hair began to fade away as the runes snaked across her pale skin towards the hand she had on Fay's forehead from where they started sliding off her hand and onto the milky white skin of blond. Once the last of the runes had slid off of her hand their slow dance began across Fay's skin just like it had on Masooma's except now, instead of converging to a single point, they were spreading all over his body.

As the magical wind surrounding the two began to settle Masooma used her free hand to draw a crystal vile from her belt and unplugged it using her teeth. In one single gulp she drained the entire contents of the small tube and let it fall to the ground where it shattered to a million pieces. The runes snaking across Fay's skin began to surround the puncture in his side, swirling slowly at first but picking up speed once more as the skin began to knit itself. Once the wound disappeared completely, Kurogane noticed that the magical symbols had started to fade away.

The crimson lowlights that had been previously present in Masooma's hair now began appearing in Fay's blond locks. As soon as the magical wind vanished and the spell completed, a loud gasp escaped from those blue lips as Fay suddenly tried to inhale as much air as possible.

Slowly his gasps evened out and his eyes opened. Masooma found herself looking into two pools of sapphire, Fay looked around him and then back at her with a confused expression on his face. Why was everybody so shocked? What was going on? Then it all came back to him. His pupils widened as the severity of what had occurred registered in his mind.

'What have you done?' he whispered in horror.

'I saved your life you idiot.' Masooma said as she smiled at him.

'But what about the price …' he started to speak but was cut off when Masooma closed the distance between them and kissed him.

'…wasn't something that I could not pay.' She said softly as she broke apart.

*******************************

Loud music and sounds of cheering drifted out of the Flourite residence where a certain group of vampire hunters was currently celebrating their victory over the coven. Yuuko and Seishiro were having a drinking competition in the living room whereas Tomoyo, Himawari, Sakura and the rabbit known as Mokona were hooting and cheering nearby. A little distance away from this group, Kurogane was seated next to Doumeki and Watanuki with the latter of the two hunters ranting on and on about Himawari. Fuuma was discussing something with Syaoran whereas Fay and Masooma were in the kitchen, making snacks for everyone.

Kamui stood in the corner, observing everything with a scowl on his face. Finally, just when Masooma entered the room with a serving trolley laden with the food, he left the room without even saying a word.

'Yay… food!' Mokona cheered before bouncing over to the vampire hunter who was looking at the door through which Kamui had exited. Once Fay arrived in the room with a cake, she excused herself after whispering something in his ear.

Kurogane watched this exchange silently, not really listening to the bespectacled hunter rants. As everyone else moved to help themselves to the food, Seishiro and Yuuko also took a break from their little competition.

Masooma quietly made her way to the roof, where she knew the younger vampire was.

'I can sense your presence now.' Kamui said quietly as she sat down next to him. Masooma stretched leisurely soaking in all the warmth the sun had to offer- it was sometime after noon- before looking over at the bluish-grey eyed vampire. His face was directed away from her but she knew he was waiting for her reply.

'Of course you can.' She said with a smile, 'I gave up my magic so my aura isn't concealed anymore.'

'Masooma your aura is different. It's like that of…' he trailed off, unsure whether if he should continue.

'The coven?' Masooma finished his question for him. 'Is this why you've been avoiding me since yesterday?' Kamui was surprised to find that her tone wasn't filled with anger or hatred or any other emotion. It was calm and serene hinting that she understood his reasons and feelings.

'Knowing that I became what I am thanks to Ashura and Xing,' she said in the same tone, 'I wouldn't be surprised if you felt the darkness in me as well.'

'I'm sorry I shouldn't have…' Kamui spoke, suddenly feeling guilty. He didn't even know why he was feeling that way. Was it because of what had happened to Subaru? Being around her did remind him of the darker vampire, his twin had transformed into, a cold, ruthless and heartless creature. The night before last, while he had been fighting his newly transformed twin, Kamui could not find it in him to kill the other. Even though he had known his twin could no longer revert to his old self, he still could not bring himself to fire the stake through his heart.

And then Fay- the real Fay- had rushed at him, only to throw him into a tree before vanishing from sight with Subaru. So now even though the entire coven had been wiped out only two vampires remained at large. And just like Yuui, Kamui had vowed to free his own twin from the curse too.

'You shouldn't be apologizing.' Masooma said with a shake of her head. 'It's not your fault.'

They sat in silence for a while before Masooma spoke, 'Kamui I think you should head downstairs now. Yuuko was asking for you'

'Yeah I probably should,' Kamui nodded and got up to leave. 'By the way Kuro-_tan_ wants to talk to you.' He said with a smirk as he passed the said hunter who growled angrily at being called by that name. Masooma simply smiled and moved over to make space for the tan-skinned hunter.

'When are you going to tell him?' Kurogane asked as he settled down.

'Tell who what?' Masooma asked innocently.

'You know very well what I am talking about,' Kurogane said sounding irritated. 'You gave up your magic, wasn't it necessary for your sanity?'

'When I gave up my magic to bring him back,' Masooma spoke, sounding very serious all of a sudden, 'I made a wish to Yuuko as well.' Upon receiving the questioning look from the red eyed man she sighed before continuing, 'I cannot lose my conscience till the time I die.'

'How much time do you have?' Kurogane asked quietly, knowing full well what she meant.

'I'm afraid that question will remain unanswered Kurogane.' She said as she shook her head once again and turned to smile at him.

'The idiot will be crushed when he finds out the truth,' Kurogane said as he looked away.

'To keep him alive,' she said lowering her head so that her bangs covered her face, 'I am willing to give up my magic and my sanity, a hundred times over. My life isn't of much importance now that the coven is taken care of, but Fay,' she paused, 'he still needs to live.'

'I'm not going to say anything to Flourite,' Kurogane said as he got up and began heading towards the stairs, 'but I think you should tell him before it's too late.'

Masooma did not say anything in reply to this; all she did was stare at his receding back before finally letting a single tear roll down her cheek.

_**A/N: phew. So glad that is over. I was suffering from a major writers block and was unable to write anything at all. But today while listening to a new song my muse decided to return and thus I was able to write this whole thing up. So, what do you think? Good or bad?**_

_**Btw I'm thinking one or maybe two more chapters at max and this story is finished. Oh and I just checked this out and guess what? This story has 238 hits and 59 visitors this month yet I did get not more than three reviews for my last chapter. Come on people this thing is almost finished. Make me happy for once by leaving lots of reviews. Pleeeease?**_

_**Wiasay I know what you people must be thinking, how could he come back to life when Yuuko clearly said it cannot be done. Well stick around and you will find out soon enough, if you haven't been able to figure it out till now. ;)**_


	25. Chapter 24

_**A/N: hey everyone. I'm back with the second last chapter of this fic and as an apology for the excessively long wait I've made it almost 4000 words long. So please go ahead and enjoy.**_

_**Oh by the way the parts of the story in italics might not be making much sense at the moment but they will in the last chapter. By the way there will be cyber cookies for the one who can correctly guess who dies before the end of this chapter. Yes. there **_**is **_**a character death in this fic.**_

_**Anyhow, read on and don't forget to review.**_

_If there was ever a more desolate day in any of their lives, they were hard-pressed to think of it. Nothing came close to even brushing the surface of the deep agony they felt. The loss of someone was always a hard thing to bear. Especially if that someone had become someone precious to them all, despite the small amount of time most of them had known her._

_A pair of unblinking, unseeing eyes was fixed on the casket where the sleeping figure lay; silky lock framing that angelic face, creamy skin still fresh even though it was almost a day now since her death. 'What is going on? How can this world still be turning?' The owner of the staring eyes thought vaguely. 'She is never coming back.' _

_He knew it since that was the truth, and it hurt. It hurt so much he couldn't breathe. His lungs labored, his heart flailed. His body seemed to be on the brink of a major break-down. His vision was almost gray; he could see nothing but what was right in front of him--the casket. He could not tear his eyes away from that immobile face; that unmoving, unresponsively and stubbornly still face._

_He wanted desperately to cry because it hurt__ so bad... he wanted to yell, to scream, to tear his hair out__, to shake her so badly that she would have no choice but to come back. But he knew it was not going to happen. You pay dearly when you break a taboo. The dead cannot come back. They _must_ not come back._

_He felt anger bubbling inside him, like lava boiling in the deepest pits of hell; anger which was directed at her and her stupid decision. Anger at her for doing what she had done to him but deep down, he knew his anger was superficial; it was nothing more than a mask- a mask that his shock and grief had decided to wear so he could fool himself- fool his mind into believing that it was not his fault she was dead. _

_So he just stood there, eyes fixated on her tranquil face, taking in everything as this was the last time he was ever going to see her. As if in a trance, he walked slowly closer to the casket, gazing inside it all the while, he reached down and stroked the stray locks away from her face, feeling his eyes burn but he still would not cry._

_*************************************_

'Sakura, could you please hurry up?' Fay spoke as he knocked on the door to her room. 'I'm sure Syaoran will like you even if you were in your PJ's.'

'Just a couple more minutes Fay.' Sakura called out, 'I'm almost done.'

Fay stood there tapping his foot impatiently while he waited for the auburn haired girl. A day after their battle with the coven, Kurogane had proposed to Tomoyo. Today was their engagement ceremony and if Sakura did not hurry up they were definitely going to be late.

'Sakura,' Fay knocked on the door once again.

'I'm coming, I'm coming.' She said as the door opened to reveal Fay's adoptive sister. She was wearing a pink flowing dress and had her long hair tied back in a French braid. The shorter hair at the front were already escaping from the braid and falling into her eyes. She was wearing a very simple silver chain around her neck with matching silver earrings. Even in this simplicity she looked very pretty.

'My my.' Fay said as he grinned slyly and spoke in a teasing manner. 'Ever since Syaoran showed up, you've started to act more like a girl.'

'What is that supposed to mean?' Sakura huffed and crossed her arms.

'It means my dear sister,' Fay replied as he began climbing down the stairs, 'that you are looking very beautiful.'

'Thanks.' She said looking relieved before she got nervous once more, 'I'm not looking way too dolled up, right?'

'If by dolled up you mean putting on a bit of gloss, trying out a new hair-do and wearing a dress,' Fay said as he got in the car and reversed it before turning it around, 'then you look absolutely stunning.'

***************************************

The ceremony was quite simple. It took place in the plain fields at the base of the mountain near the flowing river. It was a truly wonderful place and thanks to Fay and a few other friends they had persuaded Kurogane to have a barbeque after the exchange of engagement rings which had yet to take place. Sakura and Syaoran seemed to be enjoying themselves, reminiscing their childhood together, as they waited for other guests to arrive. Kurogane was busy having a glare off with Kamui and everybody else was pretty much busy themselves.

Fay looked around, blue eyes searching for a certain vampire hunter. He spotted her leaning against the base of an old tree which overlooked the entire field stretching before it. Frowning slightly at her detached attitude, Fay made his way over to the raven haired ex-witch but stopped a few feet behind her. Her head was resting on the trunk of the tree and she was humming softly to herself. One of her hands was playing with the silver chain in her hand; the one Xing had thrown at him almost a fortnight ago.

The breeze picked up, blowing fallen leaves and flower petals along with it.

'Hey Fay,' Masooma said without opening her eyes.

'Hey.' He said softly as he sat down next to her.

'Seems like everybody is having fun.' She stated, eyes still closed.

'Yeah.' Fay said as he looked back in the direction he had come from. 'But why are you sitting all the way over here?'

'I… just felt like it.'

They sat in silence for a while before Masooma broke it with a soft whisper, 'hey Fay?' she finally opened her eyes and turned around to look at him.

'Hmm?' said mage tilted his head to one side slightly.

'You're not mad at me, are you?' she said, brown eyes holding some unknown fear.

'No. what makes you think that?' asked a perplexed Fay.

'I-I…' she started hesitantly before looking the other way, 'it's nothing. I was just wondering about something.'

'Masooma, what's wrong?' Fay asked gently, something was troubling her.

'Would you have hated me,' she asked quietly as she wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees to gaze in the distance with unseeing eyes. 'If I died that night when I gave up my magic?'

'You didn't die. You're still here, aren't you?' he replied.

'Yeah…' she said, 'but you didn't answer my question, would you hate me?'

'No Masooma I wouldn't have hated you.' Fay said firmly as he leaned towards her to cup her cheek making her look into his eyes, 'get angry at you maybe, but never hate you. I don't think I can ever do that, even if I want to.'

'Oye!' Kamui voice made them look towards the base of the incline before Masooma had a chance to respond to what Fay had said, 'You two lovebirds can get romantic after the stupid ceremony. Everyone's waiting.'

'Let's go.' Masooma said quickly as she looked the other way and started to get up. Fay mimicked the action and got to his feet as well.

'I was wondering,' she said softly as they headed towards the party, 'would you like to go to the mountains with me tomorrow?'

'Sure.' Fay replied without a second thought, he could leave the café for Fuuma to manage for a day.

'Thanks.' She smiled before she staggered slightly but regained her balance quickly.

'Are you alright?' the blue eyed magician asked in concern.

'Peachy.' she replied, 'I think my leg got numb from sitting in one position for too long.'

'Are you sure?' Fay asked not really buying the excuse; Masooma had been losing her balance a lot lately, ever since the downfall of the coven five nights ago. And she had been growing paler as well. Come to think of it, weren't those dark circles forming under her eyes? 'You're not sick, are you?'

'Yes, I'm perfectly fine.' She laughed lightly, 'it's nothing, really.'

Just as Fay opened his mouth to say something, she looked past him, 'Oh hey Tomoyo, congrats you two. Wow! You look really pretty.' And sure enough she did look beautiful, dressed in a figure hugging midnight blue spaghetti strapped dress with an asymmetrical hemline trimmed with silver lace; one side slightly above her knee while the other reached almost to her calf. Kurogane was standing right next to the lavender eyed girl, wearing a pair of blue jeans and black coat with a white button up shirt underneath, its two top buttons left undone.

'My my, even Kuro-tan is looking hot tonight.' She said slyly as she looked at him.

'Thanks.' The researcher giggled when her boyfriend and soon-to-be-fiancé growled at the nickname, 'Kurogane be nice.' She nudged him lightly when he didn't stop glaring at the two.

'Yeah yeah. Thanks for coming.' He grumbled as he looked away whilst crossing his arms.

'You two are looking pretty cute together yourselves.' Tomoyo smiled.

'Thank you Miss Tomoyo.' Fay grinned widely as he took her hand and lifted it to his lips, 'May you two have all the happiness in the world.'

'Come on you four,' Yuuko appeared beside Kurogane and latched herself to said man's arm quickly, 'let's not keep the guests waiting. There will be a lot of time for chit chat once the rings are exchanged.'

'Oye!' Kurogane exclaimed as he found himself being directed by Yuuko, 'get off of me witch! I can walk on my own you know.'

Laughing at the antics of those two the three of them followed. Once everyone had settled down, Kurogane- after a little coaxing from Tomoyo- thanked everyone for coming. After the exchange of rings Tomoyo beamed as she chattered happily with the guests while Fay forcibly helped Kurogane setup the barbeque with Fuuma.

Music played in the background as some of the guests danced or just talked together. Masooma made small talk with Himawari for a while until Watanuki interrupted them to ask Himawari for a dance. Excusing herself from those two she walked over to where Kamui was sitting a little distance away from everybody else.

Then without asking for his permission, Masooma lolled back onto the rough grass, folding her arms behind her head and looking up at the clouds, shivering as a dark cold wind blew. Fireflies darted across her vision in a loose, incandescent cloud.

She slapped at one, and wondered if she should risk saying something to Kamui. She might not ever get the chance again; just when she made up her mind to confide in him she heard him stand up. Masooma sat up abruptly, hoping that Kamui wasn't leaving, she had come over to him for just that one reason; but she needn't have worried. With his hands shoved nonchalantly into his pockets, said vampire walked over to where Masooma was, and sat down cross-legged next to her, carefully avoiding any eye contact. Absently, he plucked a blade of grass and started splitting it down the middle, staring down the hill and over the dark river.

During the small amount of time in which circumstances had forced to work together, Masooma had grown fond of the kid (by vampire standards); she had started to think of him as a younger brother. Maybe she should just get it out before something else came up. After all Kurogane knew, Yuuko knew, even Seishiro had some idea so Kamui deserved the truth as well. She knew she did not have the guts to break it to Fay- she wouldn't be able to bear the look of horror on his face, but she could at least tell Kamui. That way she would have one thing less in her list of regrets.

The riverbank below glowed with the lights and barbecue fires that Kurogane and Fay had finally managed to setup. The mingled voices, laughter and music could still be heard up where they sat. Far-away thunder rippled across the night sky, and the wind blew again, bringing with it the scent of deep earth and silver rain.

'Kamui there is something I have to tell you.' She said quietly finally unable to stand the silence.

In response to her statement, Kamui fixated her with his violet eyed gaze, a slight frown marring his features.

******************************************

'Masooma, you idiot, why the hell did you do it? I know you love him and all but… ' Kamui said shaking his head in disbelief. 'I _cannot_ believe I'm saying this… but do you have any idea what he would feel once he finds out what you did?'

'Kurogane said something along those very lines.' She smiled ruefully, turning her head back to look at the clouds.

'You told this to that hunter but not to Flourite?' the vampire said incredulously.

'It's not like I haven't tried,' Masooma snapped all of a sudden, 'and I did not tell this to anyone, Kurogane figured it out on his own.' She sighed feeling ashamed at her loss of control over her emotions, looking down she clasped her hands together in her lap before rubbing her arm nervously, 'I-I've been trying this whole week but I can't tell him.' she sighed once more.

'Why? He will find it out anyways once it happens,' Kamui said, 'won't it be better if he gets to hear it from you instead of seeing it?'

'I don't know how he'll react to It.' she shook her head, 'I'm scared.'

'Look, Masooma,' Kamui said, 'I can't say he will be calm when he hears what you've just told me but I can say one thing. He would have done the same if he could have.'

'That's what I'm afraid of.' She replied with hysterical tears in her eyes, 'I think he might do just that. He won't take it easily and when he finds out he will replicate the spell. I mean he might not have been able to do it before now with only half of his magic but now he is strong. His magic isn't sealed away anymore and he has Yuu… my magic in him as well. He might do it and then what? The price mustn't be tampered with but I can't tell that to him and if he doesn't know that he will…'

'Masooma!' Kamui said gripping her shoulders and forcing her to look at him, 'calm down. This is not the end of the world so calm down. If it makes you feel any better, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything foolish. Okay?'

Without another word, she slumped against him, crying openly into his shirt. Kamui was at a loss of what to do, never in his eighty year of youth did he have to deal with hysterical crying girls or female vampires for that matter, so after an awkward stage of standing stock still for a while he settled with rubbing her back in a soothing motion.

It seemed like ages while Masooma let it all out, 'I don't… re-regret saving his l-life…' she sobbed.

'I know you don't.' Kamui said quietly, 'you did what you thought appropriate at that time.'

'But w-what if…?' She started only to be cut off by Kamui.

'But nothing.' He said firmly, 'pull yourself together Masooma. I told you he won't do anything stupid. Now get a grip, before somebody comes over here.' He said looking around.

Masooma pulled away from his embrace and wiped her eyes with a quiet sob. 'If you see Fay, tell him to pick me up at 1 tomorrow afternoon.' She told him as she turned her back towards him and started to walk away.

'Where are you going?' Kamui asked, feeling concern spread through his being as she stumbled once or twice along the way.

'Home. I don't think Yuuko's potion will help me stay on my feet much longer.' She replied, 'it's better if I go and get some rest.'

'Be careful.' Kamui said quietly.

'Always am, kid.' She replied with a cocky grin, the effect was ruined by the fact that her face was still shining with the wet tear trails on her cheeks.

'Whatever.' Kamui mumbled as he looked the other way. Tremors of bleak light fluttered across the low clouds at the very edge of the sky, and thunder rippled through the air again. Black grains of rain began to ping down like specks of fat in a pan as the guest scurried away towards the shelter of their cars, hurrying to get out of the liquid raining down from the heavens. Only a blue eyed magician could be found searching the field for Masooma.

'She left a while ago. Said she wasn't feeling well.' Kamui said quietly as he walked past him, 'by the way.' He stopped a little way from him, 'she asked me to tell you, "pick her up at one from her place." Later Flourite.' The vampire then walked away leaving a rain soaked magician standing there all by himself.

Fay expression turned to thoughtful as he looked down at something in his hands. Something was definitely going on and he was being kept out of the whole deal on purpose. He knew it concerned Masooma seeing as how strangely she had been acting around him lately. Always stopping short of saying something and spacing out, losing her balance were a few of the things she had started to do since last week.

The vibrating cell phone in his pocket brought his attention back to the present. Flipping it open he realized it was Kurogane that was calling.

'Oye idiot, where are you? Hurry and get over to the warehouse.' Kurogane's voice sounded urgent, 'those two bastards are on the move again.'

Forgetting the ice-flower in his hand, Fay snapped his cell shut and held up his hand to write off a transportation spell. The glowing runes surrounded his body, swirling closer and closer until they enveloped him entirely. A solitary pale blue flower drifted slowly to the muddy ground despite the fact that it was raining heavily.

****************************************

'Just a minute.' Masooma called as she unwrapped the towel from her head and went to answer the door. Her lips broke into a smile as soon as her eyes fell on the blond at her door.

Fay was holding out a single red rose, 'Present for you, courtesy of the Flourite's delivery services.'

'Come on in.' She grinned as she took the rose from him, 'just give me ten minutes and we can leave.'

Fay allowed her to lead him to the living room of her apartment. Just as she had promised, Masooma emerged from her bedroom ten minutes, fully dressed and ready to go. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and silver and black t-shirt with another lighter smaller red colored shirt over it. A black scarf was wrapped around her neck and her raven hair were held back in a high ponytail. She was wearing a pair of antique looking ear hoops and a set of black bangles in her right arm.

'You look amazing.' Fay said as he got up from his place on the sofa and walked over to her.

'Well then, shall we head out now?' Masooma said as she smiled nervously.

'Yup.' Fay grinned brightly.

Their first stop was the ice-cream parlor where they got two got jumbo sized cones. After that they wandered around the city for a bit before heading over to the mountains for a hike.

After climbing for nearly two hours they arrived at a tall cliff which overlooked the entire valley, it was almost time for sunset and the sight presented before them was utterly breathtaking. The reddish orange ball of fire in the sky cast a fiery glow on everything before it, making everything seem as though if covered in molten gold, the clouds above it also set on fire against a deep purple and pink sky. The pink petals of Sakura that were littering that part of the cliff also ablaze in the glow of the sun.

Masooma leaned against him slightly as they stood there to watch nature produce another marvelous masterpiece.

'Hey Masooma, can I ask you a question?' Fay asked softly as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

'Hmm?' she hummed in response, putting her head on his shoulder.

'What's bothering you?' He asked, 'I can tell you had something on your mind this entire week.'

He felt her stiffen slightly before relaxing and pulling away from him.

'How many minutes before the sun sets?' she asked with a strange smile as she turned to look at him.

'Ten.' Fay answered sounding utterly perplexed.

'You went after Fay and Subaru last night, right?' she asked softly, 'did you stop them?

'No.' Fay shook his head. 'They got away.'

'Don't worry,' Masooma said kindly as she looked into his eyes, 'you'll succeed. I know it.'

'You still haven't answered my question.'

'You'll find out soon enough,' she replied looking towards the setting sun. 'But I need you to promise me something first.'

'What?'

'No matter what happens, you'll live on.' She whispered softly as she felt a twinge of pain in her chest.

'Masooma, what kind of promise is that?' Fay asked. 'You're joking right?'

'Fay.' She said almost in desperation, the pain in her chest was sharper than anything she'd felt before in her life. Their eyes met, and for a moment everything between them was right out in the open, hanging between them, naked and vulnerable and terrifying. The whole week she had been trying to think up of some way to break the truth to him but every time she tried to say something about it her voice would fail her. Now the time was almost up, she had to stop him before it happened. 'Please, just promise me this one thing.'

'Masooma I…' blue met brown, one set showing a certain amount of fear while the latter held a sadness beyond words, 'I promise.' He sighed finally.

Masooma's hands seemed to lift themselves up of their own accord, gripping Fai's elbows. Taking a deep breath she tried to say something, but once again her throat was aching and stiff, and so instead she wrapped her arms around Fai's waist and held him solemnly. For a moment Fay was tense with shock, there were tears on her pale cheeks but then he slowly lifted his arms and returned the embrace. The sun had almost disappeared from the horizon presenting one of the rarest, most spectacular sunset ever but for the two vampire hunters atop the cliff it meant nothing at all.

Letting go of his waist, she leaned in towards his lips but stopped short just a few millimeters apart.

'Thank you, Yuui.' Her breath ghosted his lips before making contact completely, her eyes closed, her tears fell as Fay kissed her back. Their kiss was warm, long, and passionate as the two lovers held each other in their arms. Fay had his hand around her waist whereas Masooma's hands now on either side of his neck as she was kissing him, her thumbs on either side of his cheeks. The kiss got deeper and deeper but eventually after what seemed like ages the two pulled away. Masooma rested her head on his shoulder as the magician held her close.

'Don't forget your promise.' Masooma whispered as Fay felt her lean more and more against his body, almost as if her own strength was failing her.

_**A/N: phew. So glad that's over.**_

_**Kurogane: that was totally senseless. I didn't even have much part in this chapter.**_

_**Me: stop complaining Kuro-whiney.**_

_**Kurogane: (growls) what did you call me?**_

_**Me: Kuro-whiney.**_

_**Fay: Nims, do you have a death wish or something?**_

_**Me: not really.**_

_**Syaoran: (points behind me) well then you better start running.**_

_**Me: (turns around and screams) Waaahhh… Kuro-grumpy is out to get me….**_

_**Fay: (calls out) you're not helping yourself.**_

_**Sakura: (sweatdrops) it's not that hard to figure out why luck ditched her. **__(Check out the fav quote on my profile to understand this one.)_

_**Kamui: how come Masooma gets a jumbo sized ice-cream cone and I don't?**_

_**Subaru: (simply) she went out on a date.**_

_**Kamui: (pouts) So? She is a vampire. How come she is able to eat it and not us?**_

_**Me: (stops running to shout) go to the review room, plenty of ice-cream for everyone!!!**_

_**Kamui: (squeals in delight and runs off to the said room.) **_

_**Subaru: (shakes his head in disbelief.) can't believe we are twins.**_

_**Kamui: (sticks his head out of the door, ice-cream smeared all over his mouth.) hey she's got chocolate chip in here.**_

_**Subaru: (screams happily) and now I can. (Runs off.)**_

_**Sakura: (looks at me laughing my head off.) erm weren't you supposed to be running from Kurogane.**_

_**Me: Nah. I locked him in the broom closet. Let's go get some ice-cream.**_

_**Syaoran: okay.**_

_**Sakura: (clears her throat.)**_

_**Syaoran: (pales considerably) a-after you of course, hime.**_

_**Me: she's not a princess in this story. Anyhow let's go. (Walks into the room with ever other character ever to appear in this story.)**_

_**Fay: (looks at the limp form in his arms before looking around) erm. Hello??? Little help here. Stuck with unconscious vampire. (no answer) hey! Guys wait for me!**_

_**P.S. head over to the review room now to meet the entire cast of "twisted fate" along with free buckets of cyber-ice-cream. (we regret to inform you that Fay and Kurogane will be unfortunately unavailable due to some other engagements.)**_


	26. Chapter 25

_**A/N: hey everybody, cough, I'm back. Enjoy this seriously long last chapter which has everything from action to tragedy and angst and comedy all in one place. Hope you like it.**_

_**Read and enjoy. Achoo.**_

_**Don't forget to review. Hehehe. That sounds kinda like what Masooma said in the previous chapter. Ahem, anyhow, don't let me keep you from reading on.**_

'_Don't forget your promise.' Masooma whispered as Fay felt her lean more and more against his body, almost as if her own strength was failing her._

'Masooma?' Fay said in alarm as he found himself completely supporting her almost limp form in his arms.

'I don't regret having lived this way,' Fay heard her soft voice near his ear, 'but I wish I could have spent more time with you.'

Just as the burning ball of fire completely vanished from the view in the distance, leaving a purplish red glow in its wake, the girl crumpled in the magician's arms, shocking the man to no end. Lowering her gently to the ground Fay's eyes frantically searched for the cause of her sudden loss of conscious. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was awfully slow, threatening to come to a halt any second.

'Hey! Stay with me here!' Fay said as he started to rub her hands in an effort to help her retain some of the heat that her body had lost all of a sudden. Masooma did not respond as a small peaceful smile made its way to her lips.

In one heart wrenching moment Fay felt himself blanch, felt himself go cold all over, then hot, like he had a fever or something. He found he couldn't quite breathe or move for that matter. She didn't have a pulse anymore. Her chest was no longer rising or falling like it was supposed to.

**************************************

If there was ever a more desolate day in any of their lives, they were hard-pressed to think of it. Nothing came close to even brushing the surface of the deep agony they felt. The loss of someone was always a hard thing to bear. Especially if that someone had become someone precious to them all, despite the small amount of time most of them had known her.

A pair of unblinking, unseeing eyes was fixed on the casket where the sleeping figure lay; silky lock framing that angelic face, creamy skin still fresh even though it was almost a day now since her death. 'What is going on? How can this world still be turning?' The owner of the staring eyes thought vaguely. 'She is never coming back.'

He knew it since that was the truth, and it hurt. It hurt so much he couldn't breathe. His lungs labored, his heart flailed. His body seemed to be on the brink of a major break-down. His vision was almost gray; he could see nothing but what was right in front of him--the casket. He could not tear his eyes away from that immobile face; that unmoving, unresponsively and stubbornly still face.

He wanted desperately to cry because it hurt so bad... he wanted to yell, to scream, to tear his hair out, to shake her so badly that she would have no choice but to come back. But he knew it was not going to happen. You pay dearly when you break a taboo. The dead cannot come back. They must not come back.

He felt anger bubbling inside him, like lava boiling in the deepest pits of hell; anger which was directed at her and her stupid decision. Anger at her for doing what she had done to him but deep down, he knew his anger was superficial; it was nothing more than a mask- a mask that his shock and grief had decided to wear so he could fool himself- fool his mind into believing that it was not his fault she was dead.

So he just stood there, eyes fixated on her tranquil face, taking in everything as this was the last time he was ever going to see her. As if in a trance, he walked slowly closer to the casket, gazing inside it all the while, he reached down and stroked the stray locks away from her face, feeling his eyes burn but he still would not cry.

He turned around sharply and made his way over to the very back of the group. Sympathetic eyes followed him but all looked away sadly when their owners found themselves on the receiving end of a deadly blue eyed glare.

Despite everything that had transcended, the still sun illuminated everything in a brilliant way. The rain washed landscape presenting a scene fit for some a fairytale, vividly green grass and soft pink petals littering the ground, a fresh blue sky dotted with wispy white clouds here and there, the valley of Kashmir looking like one of the fabled gardens of Eden. In short it all seemed to be too peaceful and serene to be the day of someone's funeral. Once the casket's lid had been slid shut, the whole coffin lowered into the ground and covered with dirt, people slowly moved forward to say a few last words.

Sakura stifled a sob and walked closer once Yuuko and the other grownups were done, 'I can never ever forget what this person has done for me; returning to me the one thing that I had come to value greatly over the past two years' her soft voice was carried away from the group on a light breeze. 'I might have still been with you all today but if it wasn't for this person, I might not have been the same way that I am right now. I owe a lot to her and I pray that may her soul find peace in the afterlife. Peace that she definitely deserves.'

Sakura moved out of the way to let Doumeki take over who had apparently known her longer than everybody else present, save for Seishiro and Yuuko. She sighed lightly as her eyes roamed over all those present; she could just make out Fay's receding back through the gap in the crowd at the position which Doumeki had been standing in a few moments ago. She decided to follow him out of the cemetery only to be stopped by Kurogane.

'Let the idiot have some time to himself,' he mumbled in her ear as he bent forward slightly after placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her from walking. He then straightened and went back to put a comforting arm around a sobbing Tomoyo's shoulders.

Another sigh escaped her lips as she nodded and changed the course her feet had been heading on initially. A pained smile crossed her features as Syaoran gave her hand a comforting squeeze. Losing someone was hard to cope with. She had not only lost a very caring person but also her brother just one night ago. She just felt so helpless and lost unable to do anything to help the man she had claimed to be her brother as he wallowed in guilt and anger.

Maybe Kurogane was right. Maybe Fay just needed some time to himself to come to terms with everything. If not, well then she would make sure that Fay knew how well he had taught her to fight. She would definitely _beat_ some sense into him if all else failed.

*************************************************

It was almost night time now and Fay still had not returned home yet. He had disappeared in the middle of the funeral, had not replied to anyone's texts and had not even returned her phone calls. Thanking Syaoran and Kurogane for helping her look for her missing brother Sakura looked around the desolate area which she was in at that time. No one was around as far as she could tell but instinctively her hand closed around the handle of her stake. Something smelled plain wrong in that area.

The feeling of wrongness intensified tenfold when she felt a chill creep up her spine.

'Vampires.' Kurogane breathed behind her as he and Syaoran also stiffened.

'You should not have been wandering around like that little girl.' a familiar voice spoke from the darkness.

'Fay.' Sakura breathed as she slid out the twin stakes from their holders on her leg and waist. Kurogane and Syaoran mimicked the action by pulling out their swords from heir sheaths.

'Look Subaru,' Fay's clear laughter rang through the darkness around them, 'isn't that cute? Two little puppies trying to protect the princess.'

'Who are you calling a dog?!?'Kurogane growled in anger, 'show yourself so that I can slice you through.'

'With pleasure,' Fay said pleasantly, 'although when I do I'm afraid no one would be left to protect your precious little princess.'

'You're the ones who'll be needing protection shortly.' Sakura said coldly as she narrowed her eyes to squint through the darkness. A surprised yell followed by a clang of metal from Syaoran made her snap her head back in her friend's direction. There he was, facing off against Subaru, each trying to inflict a fatal wound on the other.

'My, my.' Fay's voice sounded so much closer than the last time, 'looks like little puppy has his hands full. Maybe you should help him big puppy.'

'Don't do anything rash.' Kurogane began but Sakura was no longer listening. There before her stood the reason she had almost lost her brother. The reason why everyone around her was in so much pain.

'Oye!' Kurogane yelled to catch her attention but she was already charging towards the creature, ready to slice her stake though the vampire's heart. However, being as agile as ever, Fay easily dodged her attack; flipping backwards before swinging a kick at the girl's chest. Sakura threw herself to the ground to avoid being hit- at the same time swiping her leg across the ground, tripping the vampire up headfirst and sending him crashing into the dirt.

Fay quickly regained his balance, sending a punch in Sakura's direction, the girl staggered as the fist made contact with her side, but that was only for a second. Fay laughed, only to receive the end of her combat boots as the girl spun around and landed a perfect round house kick to the side of his face. Under ordinary circumstances it wouldn't have inflicted much damage but now with the three essences infused in her blood, Sakura's kick was enough to draw blood. The vampire felt his own blood drip down his chin but licking it off he grinned wickedly.

'We'll see how much of that strength remains behind once we are through princess.'

'I'll make you pay for everything you've done,' Sakura spat angrily, 'and once I'm done there won't be much left of you to see.' She gave a feral growl, sending another series of swings from her dual stakes combined with kicks and punches at the vampire's torso.

She was vaguely aware of Kurogane fending off Subaru along with Syaoran in the distance but most of her attention was directed at her own fight. No matter how hard she struck or how fast she hit him, the creature never tired, dodging all but a couple of Sakura's furious attacks.

******************************************

'So this is where you've been sulking.' Kamui stated as he sat down next to Fay.

'Why are you here?' Fay asked without looking in his direction.

'Everyone is worried about you, Flourite.' He said quietly as he gazed at the valley before his eyes. Pinpricks of lights dotted the entire place, indicating where the city of Kashmir was located. 'She wanted to tell you, you know.'

'Then why didn't she?' Fay asked bitterly.

'Because she was scared that you might hate her for it. Or that you might try to reverse it all.'

'So what if I would have?'

'You _would_ have hated her?' Kamui asked despite the fact that he knew Fay was referring to the latter of his two options.

'No! I would have given it back to her.' Fay replied through gritted teeth, 'The reason why I am alive, why she is dead. This doesn't belong to me.'

'You were dying,' Kamui said simply, 'she did the thing she deemed appropriate at the moment.'

'_Deemed appropriate at the moment?_' Fay repeated incredulously. 'She died because of her stupid decision, how is that appropriate?'

'She didn't tell this to me herself,' Kamui admitted after a while of remaining silent, 'but I think she was already dying and the witch knew about it.'

'What?'

'We're gonna have to ask the witch about this all.' Kamui said, 'but I think Masooma did not have very long to live anyways.'

'How can you sa… oh shit!' Fay stiffened as he felt something amiss. 'Sakura!' He breathed before jumping to his feet and darting off in the direction of the road a little way behind them. Kamui swiftly followed.

******************************************

Sakura knew she couldn't keep this up forever, and silently cursed her inability to use magic. If her brother were here, this fight would have been over ages ago.

The next second saw Sakura fly crashing into one of the trees in that area, as one of Fay's harder kicks hit its mark.

The vampire sauntered over to her at a leisurely pace as Sakura panted and tried to lift herself off the round on shaky arms. Her stakes had slipped from her grasp and landed at a distance of few feet from her, meaning that if she did not hurry she might not be able to get to them in time since the vampire was almost upon her.

She felt a soft hand wrap around her arm, yanking her off the ground in a sharp tug.

'Get back to the house with Syaoran,' Kamui whispered urgently as Yuui stepped in front of her protectively.

Almost in a daze, Sakura found herself nodding at the young vampire.

'Kid! Hurry up and get going.' Kurogane barked at Syaoran, making her jump all of a sudden. Said brown haired boy rushed forward , grabbing hold of her hand and raced out of that area and towards the red-eyed hunter's jeep which was parked in the distance.

'This definitely ends tonight.' Yuui said in a dangerously low tone as his staff materialized in front of him. His twin smirked as his own daggers appeared before him in a whirl of golden magic.

Fay rushed forward, swinging his dagger aiming for his twin's side, a trail of golden runes following the arc of the daggers. Yuui quickly blocked the incoming blade and forced his attacker back. Fay leapt away for a brief moment and then pounced on the hunter again this time with a flying kick, springing himself forward with more force. Once again Yuui blocked the attack with his staff, pushing the vampire back who landed in a crouched position after flipping back in the air.

Blue eyes narrowed slightly as Yuui charged forward, Fay halted his attack by raising his arm and dagger to block the incoming staff. Sparks of magic flew everywhere, burning anything they came in contact with however the magical weapons remained undamaged in this assault; the forceful attack pushing the vampire back with its momentum, his feet dragging through the dirt.

While this set of twins battled of near the edge of a very steep cliff, Kamui found himself fighting his brother closer to the road, Kurogane had stepped away the minute Kamui had shown up. Not because he was weak or couldn't hold up his own against the turned vampire but because he knew it was important to Kamui. Why the hell did he even care about those creatures still eluded the hunter but shrugging those questions aside Kurogane had let a crazed smirk settle on his features as he noticed a swarm of vampires heading in the direction of the city. So maybe not all of the vampires were at the mansion in that forest last week.

'This ought to be fun.' Kurogane thought as he moved in that direction. They were most probably after Sakura so he better put a stop to them or else maybe the kid might end up getting killed.

Subaru landed lightly on his feet after dodging a swipe of claw-like nails from his twin. The two looked at each other warily, trying to figure out the other vampire's next move, Subaru sprung forward with a kick but Kamui caught his leg in his right hand, Subaru then pulled his body forward to kick at his twin's head using his other leg, but this attack was blocked as well. Out of other options, Subaru reared his arm and tried to deliver an uppercut, but Kamui managed to block it with his free arm, the without warning Kamui swung his twin in a circle using the leg he still had in his hand, letting go once they had gained some momentum.

This act sent Subaru flying off but the vampire flipped back in mid air and landed neatly on his feet. Mimicking his twin's attack, Kamui rushed forward and swiped his hand; forcing Subaru crouched to the floor in an attempt to dodge it. While still on the ground he kicked out one of Kamui's legs from underneath him. As a result the vampire lost his balance; Kamui tried to kick his twin as he fell but this attack was evaded with ease.

'You never really could beat me at anything,' Subaru stated out loud as he dodged yet another swipe from a growling Kamui, 'maybe I should show you how it's done.' He said as his own nails elongated to and his eyes switched to golden.

***********************************************

'Do you think that maybe I should let that girl live after I get her blood?' Fay mused with a smirk in his twin's direction, 'maybe she might be of some more use to the coven.'

'The coven doesn't exist anymore.' Yuui growled as he launched into another attack, making a roundhouse kick that Fay blocked however in doing so the vampire failed to notice the staff that was coming next. The silver end of the staff hit him in the side making the vampire falter in his steps. 'And neither will you. You've messed with my life one time too many.'

Fay chuckled as he heard this, 'I cannot be slain like your average vampires, brother.' Yuui thought he could detect a tint of sadness in the vampire's otherwise infuriating tone. 'No matter how hard you try, _I will not die._'

'We'll just see about that.' Yuui said as he and Fay circled each other, the tips of their weapons sparkling up with magic once more. Blue runes glowing with a reddish tinge emerged from the sapphire tipped staff while a similar pattern of gold runes appeared from the vampire's twin daggers.

'I see you took that vampire's magic as well.' Fay commented as he observed the new appearance of his twin's magic. 'So that's why you're still alive.'

'Shut up!' Yuui yelled as the runes turned to icicles all rushing towards his mirror image standing across him.

******************************************

The battleground was a mess. Stray, deflected, missed aimed or dodged spells had turned the once beautiful mountain top onto a barren ground filled with numerous craters and charred trees. A little way down that slop, the ground was covered in ash which blew away in the wind only to be replaced by more vampire ash.

'Where the hell are all these vampires coming from?' Watanuki said in exasperation as yet another wave of said creatures rushed down the slope.

'magic.' was the simple reply from the vampire named Seishiro. 'They are all magical replicas of the original vampires.'

'The ones we slew last week?' asked Fuuma as he jumped over a stumbling vampire and drove the stake through it's back. The creature cried out as it turned to dust.

'Those and a few others.' Doumeki was the one who replied this time.

'How can these things be replicated like that?' Watanuki grunted as he tackled a vampire heading in Himawari's direction.

'Those four leading bastards all knew magic, kid.' Kurogane rolled his eyes as he sidestepped a vampire trying to rip his heart out. 'Figure the rest out by yourself.' He threw off the vampire on his back and drove the sword through its heart. 'Aww, come on! What does a guy have to do to get some decent opponents in this place?' Kurogane moaned as he finished off five vampires with a single swipe of his sword. (We all know Kurgz would complain if he had to fight weaklings who died too easily. No challenge at all.)

To a distant observer only two pairs of extremely fast moving blurs would be visible atop the ruined mountaintop, one appearing as a flurry of black and razor sharp nails whereas the other as flashes of blue, silver and gold magic and weapons.

'Well bro, I would love to stick around and play but the princess awaits.' Fay said as a transportation spell started to appear around him at the same time as he swung his dagger towards his twin.

Yuui blocked the incoming attack with his staff which he then twirled once before swinging it around over his head and bringing it down on his vampire twin. This action knocked Fay to his feet making his transportation spell vanish before completion.

'You stay away from my sister!' Yuui snarled as he rushed forward spearing his twin with the sapphire tip of his staff, Fay's golden eyes widened in shock as his brain registered what had happened, his eyes flickered between gold and blue, finally settling on a dull blue as a small smile made its way to his lips.

'And so, one finishes off the other.' Fay said as fresh blood trickled from the side of his lips, 'well done brother.' He smiled as his entire body began to glow in a golden light.

'Take good care of the princess, brother,' Fay said as his eyes started to glaze and his body started to turn to ash, 'you never know who might come back for her blood.'

'Aaaaa!' Kamui's pained scream gave Yuui no time to dwell on his twin's last words or notice the small floating orb that was left behind in his place. His head snapped in the direction of the vampire twins only to see that Subaru was standing over a fallen Kamui, an empty crystal vial glistening in his blood covered hand. Kamui lay on the ground, a gaping hole in his chest which was bleeding profusely.

'No more immunity for you Kamui.' Subaru smirked evilly as he looked at his brother in the cruelest way imaginable before he turned around to look at Yuui. The smirk spread even wider, contorting his handsome face and giving him the appearance of a truly demented being, 'I'll catch you later, Yuui.' He said with a wave before throwing the vial at Yuui and rushing in his direction at the same time only to sidestep the hunter and grab the orb which was absorbed into his body; black runes surrounded Subaru's body and he vanished from sight before Yuui could stop him. Yuui bent down in thoughtfully as he picked up the crystal vial without really looking at it.

Since when did Subaru start to possess magic? And what in the world had that orb been? Had he really seen that white patterned feather or was it just his imagination? Yuui thought in confusion as he absentmindedly looked at the vial in his hand. He was not too worried about Kamui. His vampire blood would help him heal fast so he was in no immediate danger. Looking more closely at the vial in his hand, however, Yuui let out a stream of curses as he rushed to Kamui's side. This was bad, very very bad.

How could he have forgotten _that_? Of course, he had given one to Subaru himself; just before they had left _that_ night. Yuui cast a look around him before returning his attention to the young vampire. The vampire's grey-blue eyes were clouded with pain as beads of sweat formed on his face while he struggled to breath. He was bleeding profusely and his injuries showed no sign of even thinking about healing. Without uttering another word, Yuui took hold of the vampire's arm as he raised his hand and wrote a transportation spell.

'FAY!' Sakura cried out as soon as the hunter appeared in the living room with a bleeding vampire. 'What happened to Kamui?' she gasped as soon as her eyes took in the sight before her. Fay was holding onto a deathly pale Kamui, the vampire's breathes coming in shallow gasps while his hands were curled up into fists as he struggled to inhale.

'He's got a punctured lung from what I can tell.' Fay said as he let go off the vampire's hand and hurried off into the TV room. 'Subaru used the potion on him so his wounds can't heal on their own. Get his shirt off, I'll get some nullifier.' Fay commanded the girl in the other room as he opened the cabinet and scanned the bottles in there. Looking at the very back he pulled out a small crystalline tube with a shimmering silver liquid inside it. He turned around to go back but stopped in his tracks only to walk back and grab the crystal decanter -which held some blood in it- as well.

During the amount of time that it took him to get the stuff Sakura had cut through and removed the blood stained shirt to expose the vampire's wound. Unstopping the decanter, Fay emptied the contents of the tube into it swirled the decanter a bit. The blood inside it turned to a pale white color before becoming completely colorless. Summoning a thick wad of cotton and some disinfectant he handed the decanter over to Sakura.

'Hold this; I need to clean it before we do anything else.' He said as he wet the cotton with disinfectant and proceeded to cleaning the wound; holding the vampire down with one hand and using the other to clean the wound. Several wads of cotton later Fay decided that this was the cleanest it could get, he took back the decanter from Sakura and lifted Kamui's head to his lap.

'Syaoran I need you to hold him down,' he instructed the chocolate eyed boy standing next to his adoptive sister, 'he doesn't have any vampire strength at the moment so it shouldn't be that hard. Sakura you help him.' he added as an afterthought as he put the decanter to Kamui's lips.

The two teenagers nodded and proceeded to do what was required of them at that time. Fay then tipped the transparent liquid into the vampire's mouth, drop by drop, which trickled down his throat. Unfortunately Kamui started to thrash about after a few drops but the two teenagers were able to hold him down. Despite their efforts Kamui still managed to get free and knock the decanter out of Fay's hand but that happened when Fay had successfully made him drink the entire concoction.

**************************************

'Should have known something like this would have happened.' Kurogane grunted as he pulled a chair and sat down next to the sleeping Kamui's bed. The sheets were pulled up to the middle of his chest, white gauze peeking from underneath them. His bare chest slowly rising and falling in a steady rhythm instead of the erratic pattern it had been a few hours ago. 'First you and now him.' he mumbles as Fay walked around the bed and cast another spell on the vampire.

'Subaru poisoned the inhibitor, Kamui can't heal fast enough.' Fay explained his actions upon receiving a questioning look from the black haired man. 'What?' he asked when the look didn't go away.

'You're _healing_ him?' Kurogane raised his brow skeptically. 'Since when can you do that?' everybody knew Fay was no good when it came to healing.

'…. It's Masooma's magic.' Fay replied not looking at him.

'Oh.' Kurogane said, not insensitively.

'I'm going to have a chat with Yuuko,' Fay informed him, still without making any eye contact, 'Once he is okay, that is.' Fay clarified unnecessarily.

'…' Kurogane didn't know what to say to that. Well he did know what he could say but none of them would be what Fay wanted to hear anyways.

'The witch knew about this whole thing.' Fay continued as though he didn't really expect the man to answer, 'Kamui thinks she might have been dying already. Even before she gave up her magic.'

'I won't be surprised if she did.' Kurogane finally decided to say.

Before Fay could respond however, Kamui groaned, making the magician divert all of his attention to the vampire. The young vampire coughed as he tried to sit.

'Easy there, your wounds haven't completely healed yet.' Fay said stopping him by placing a hand on his shoulder and forcing him to lie down. 'Don't exert yourself.'

'What happened to Subaru?' Kamui asked in a weak and hoarse voice. 'Did I get him?'

'He got away.' Fay replied as he checked over his bandages which were beginning to get tainted with red once more.

Kamui cursed under his breath upon hearing this.

'You'll have plenty more chances for that,' Fay said with a humorless chuckle, 'but you need to get better before you do that.'

Kamui remained silent for quite a while as he allowed Fay to changed his bandages with magic and heal his punctured chest a little more with magic. Kurogane got up from his seat and left the room mumbling something about going to check on Tomoyo and the brats.

'Have you talked to Yuuko?' the vampire finally broke the silence.

'Didn't get a chance.' Fay replied pulling the sheet back over the pale vampire.

'She's going to leave this world very soon.' Kamui informed him, 'said she just wanted to attend the funeral.'

'How do you know that?' Fay narrowed his eyes slightly.

'She told me herself.' Kamui replied calmly even though his hoarse voice ruined the effect.

'Did she say when?' the mage asked urgently.

'Noon.'

*****************************************

Sakura petals gently floated along the light breeze as a solitary figure made its way across the flat plain atop the mountain. Just one day ago she had come here with a group of acquaintances to bid farewell to somebody important. So much had happened since she had let that person- currently buried under several feet of earth- enter her life. Slowly worming their way into her heart in such a way that now when they were no longer here, she had a gaping hole in the place they had occupied.

A sad smile made its way across her lips as the breeze picked up slightly and her raven colored locks blew across her pale yet exotic visage. Her eyes were twinkling with unknown emotions as she clutched the pale blue flower bud- she held in her hands- closer to her chest. The sun shone brilliantly making everything -washed in the rain the previous night- appear like a scene out of some very high quality digital photograph. Everything was fresh and invigorated, glowing in an unearthly way.

She stopped at the base of an old cherry tree- although it had been a day since the burial had taken place and it had rained all night long- the grave still looked freshly dug. She crouched next to it, gently placing the bud on top of the slightly raised earth, 'it seems like the time has come for us to part ways, ne?' she spoke softly, 'I'm leaving this world for good in a short while. But don't worry; I'll never forget you or what you've done for everyone.' She said as she wiped her eye and straightened up, 'I'm going to miss you.'

A wide magic circle appeared beneath her feet sending off waves of strong magic.

'Leaving so soon?' a cold voice sounded from somewhere behind her, causing the woman to abandon the transportation spell and turn around.

'So the child informed you of my departure.' She stated locking her gaze with a pair of cold icey blue eyes.

'What do you know about her death?' Fay asked not really caring to answer her, it's not like she didn't know that.

'Getting straight to the point, I see.' Her red lips quirked up into a strange smile.

'The sooner you tell me, the sooner you can leave.' Fay said in the same chilly tone.

'What makes you think you can stop me from leaving if I do not wish to tell you?' her smile transformed into a teasing smirk as she sauntered closer towards him.

'You took the payment,' Fay replied his tone not warming in the least bit. 'I don't think you can leave without granting her wish.'

'So you did your research, huh?' Yuuko looked away, the smirk vanishing from her face as she looked away, a sad look taking its place. Fay chose to remain silent this time.

'That child's purpose in life was fulfilled when the vampires named Ashura and Xing Ho were slain. The night I found her,' the dark-haired woman said as she caught one of the falling Sakura petals in her hand; her gaze became distant as though if reliving a memory, 'Masooma had made a wish to me…'

_Flashback:_

_Rain was pouring down from the sky with the occasional thunder and lightning flashing across the sky. It was during one of these short bursts of luminescence in the sky that a lone figure became visible in the deserted streets, before merging with the surrounding darkness. Another flash of lightning showed that the person had moved from his previous position. The person was moving around with caution, as though expecting an ambush._

_He turned round a corner and walked into an alleyway. In his hand was a sword of some sort; its dark blade glinting occasionally with the short burst of light._

'_Looks like we have been interrupted by some hunters,' a cold voice spoke in a somewhat sneering tone, 'no matter, we will be leaving her for the two of you.' With that a transportation circle appeared before the hunter, illuminating the dark and wet alley. Within the light provided by this spell, he was able to see three figures a few feet away from them. Two of them were standing right above the circle whereas the third was on the ground, curled up in a ball, lying in a pool of blood. That was all he could see before the circle vanished with the two vampires._

'_The poor child,' a woman's soft voice spoke behind him._

'_Yuuko-san.' the hunter greeted her politely before his tone got business-like, 'the coven seems to have abandoned one of their own.'_

'_Abandoned a vampire, yes.' Yuuko said softly as she made her way past the man and over to the girl on the ground. 'One of the coven, I doubt that.'_

'_Yuuko-san, she's a savage one.' The man warned her in alarm as Yuuko crouched down and extended her hand towards the one on the ground._

'_She seems to possess great willpower, Seishiro,' Yuuko replied as she put her hand to the girl's head. 'I don't think she'll attack.'_

'_Yuuko-san…' the man stopped when said witch raised her hand in silence._

'_Y-you are Yuuko?' the girl on the ground croaked weakly. 'The witch who grants wishes, right?'_

'_That would be me.' Yuuko replied serenely._

'_You can grant anyone's wish?' the girl coughed up some blood as she struggled to sit up on wobbly arms._

'_As long as they are willing to pay the price.' The woman replied_

'_I want to make one.' The girl said in a somewhat stronger tone._

'_There will be a price.' Yuuko said in a business-like tone._

'_I'll pay anything,' the girl said, a sudden desperation creeping into her tone as she grabbed the edge of Yuuko's cloak, 'please… I don't want to hurt anyone else.'_

'_What is it that you want?'_

_End flashback_

"I want to live until I can find the ones responsible for the deaths of my family and kill them. After that I wish to die." Yuuko echoed the wish she had granted so long ago. 'Masooma was dying when I came across her a hundred years ago.'

'The coven had poisoned her conscience enough to rip it apart. The only way I could save her was by magic so I bound her conscience to her body using a complex spell. The price that she had to pay was service to me for one hundred years. Then she would be able to live freely until her wish was fulfilled.'

'Her term of service came to an end,' Yuuko said softly, 'eight days ago on the same night the ceremony was supposed to take place. The vampires she had sworn vengeance against were both killed that night; one by her own hand and the other by yours.'

'So a part of her wish was fulfilled,' Fay said in a hollow tone, 'but that is not the only reason why she died, is it?'

'Sadly, it isn't.' the wine-eyed witch replied as her hand uncurled from around the petal, allowing it to flutter away in the breeze. 'Ever wonder why bringing back the dead to life is a taboo?'

'Because it is something that cannot be accomplished.' Fay replied.

'Oh? But it can be done.' Yuuko said as looked the vampire hunter in the eye. 'You're a living proof of that.'

'You mean… I-I… I _died??' _Faysaid in shock as he involuntarily took a step back.

'You did.' Yuuko nodded as her eyes went back to the grave.

'But how is it possible?' Fay shook his head in disbelief, 'no matter how hard you wish for it, _no one_ can be brought back to life.'

'That wish is something which lies in the realm of possibility.' Yuuko said grimly, 'however out of all the creations in the multiverses, everyone at some stage in life wants to have that wish granted but not many have what it takes to grant something like that, and even fewer have the courage to actually pay the true price.'

'The price to bring back someone from the dead,' Yuuko continued, her eyes not leaving the mound of earth before her, 'would be equal to the life of the wish maker. Masooma knew this full well when she decided to bring you back.'

'If what you are saying is true,' Fay said as he folded his arms, his tone once again cold like the polar ice-caps, 'shouldn't she have died the instant I _came _back?'

'That is what should have happened,' the witch nodded, 'but Masooma twisted the terms of her payment a little bit and managed to save you _and_ keep living at the same time.'

'But how could…'

'She possessed my magic,' Yuuko cut in before Fay could even finish his question, 'so she created a loophole in it instead. By transferring all the magic in her body to yours, she lowered the price from immediate death to a much slower death. In this way she was able to live on for almost over a week.'

'What about her conscience?' Fay asked he might not like what he was hearing but he still needed to know, 'Why didn't the bond break if the magic was no longer there?'

'While magic might have been the major factor in holding the bond in place,' Yuuko said quietly, 'it would remain intact even in its absence, as long as she didn't consume any blood.'

'So are you telling me that she had to _starve_ herself for a week???' Fay asked heatedly.

'For the lack of a better term, yes, we'll go with that.' Yuuko nodded.

'How was Kamui able to tell that Masooma was dying?' Fay asked trying to keep his anger under control.

'Her internal organs were deteriorating,' the witch replied, 'a vampire can sense that much very easily; Even if a person is using strength potions to remain standing on their feet.'

'The crazy idiot…' Fay gave a bitter laugh as he shook his head and looked up at the sun, 'she put herself through so much pain, just so she could _be with me?_'

'If you had been in her place,' Yuuko said as she stepped towards him, Fay could tell that she was staring at him intently despite the fact that he was not looking at her. 'What would you have done?'

'Probably something along the same lines.' He admitted with a sigh.

'Then I don't think you have any right to be angry with her.' She said simply as though if it was all settled.

'…'

'Don't you agree with me?' she pressed on.

'I-I… I don't know what to think.' Fay replied. 'She is dead because of me, Fay is dead, Kamui was almost killed last night, Sakura can be abducted by crazy vampires at any time and Subaru has lost his mind, completely. I don't know how to deal with _any_ of that.'

'You know,' She said as she waved her hand and two small poofs sounded behind him. The next second a white rabbit followed soon after by a black rabbit hopped over to the witch. 'You don't have to carry all the burdens on your shoulders alone. You have friends who can help, who _want_ to help you deal with all of it. So why not try and let them?'

'You sound just like Kurogane.' Fay said with a small smile.

Yuuko laughed, 'Don't let him hear that, I don't think Kuro-tan would like the comparison very much.' Her expression grew a bit serious, 'Always remember that you are not alone.' A magic circle appeared beneath her feet once more, this time rising up in spirals of rainbow colored smoke, dissolving her body wherever it touched her.

'You're leaving?' Fay asked in surprise.

'That _is_ why I came here today.' She laughed once more, although it had a more echoing quality to it, as though if she was standing in a large empty hall and not on the open mountain top, 'but not to worry, if Hitsuzen has it, our paths may cross again someday. Till then, take good care of your sister or Touya will have your head. Goodbye Yuui.' The smoke dissolved the last of her body and dissipated into thin air.

'Hitsuzen, huh?' Fay smiled as he looked at the blooming ice flower on Masooma's grave and gave a smile, a heartbreaking yet true smile.

***********************************

_**Two months later:**_

'It's been a real pleasure Miss Tomoyo.' Fay smiled as he kissed the back of her hand lightly.

'Likewise Fay.' The lavender eyed girl giggled.

'Keep in touch Kuro-tan.' Fay said cheerfully.

'Yeah yeah.' He grumbled, 'just don't get killed behind our backs.'

'Why would I wanna do that?' Fay said innocently before a mischievous grin spread on his face. 'I wouldn't want to miss out on my favorite puppy's wedding, now would I?'

This caused a blush to creep up on said puppy's face.

'Aww, how cute.' Fay laughed, 'Kuro-tan's blushing.'

'I. Am. Not. Blushing.' Kurogane said through gritted teeth as a vein pulsed in his temple.

Before Fay could make another attempt to incense the hunter any further, Syaoran appeared in the doorway of the Flourite residence, laden with bags followed closely by Sakura, also carrying a couple of bags.

'I thought I said I would get them.' Kurogane said with an amused expression on his face as he watched Syaoran struggle underneath the weight of numerous bags.

'No.. problem.. Kurogane.' Syaoran grunted as he took a couple more steps. 'I got… them.. whoa…' CRASH! Syaoran groaned as he tried to remove the bags crushing him.

'Sure you do.' Kurogane rolled his eyes while the sides of his lips twitched upwards as he helped the fallen boy.

'Syaoran, are you alright?' Fay, Sakura and Tomoyo said in unison as they hurried him.

'I'm fine.' He said gingerly, 'note to self: _never _think you are superman again.'

'Erm, Miss Tomoyo, what exactly _is_ in all these bags?' Fay asked as he picked one of the ground and placed in the back of the jeep.

'Clothes.' She replied with twinkling eyes. 'Sakura inspired me so much that I just had to make all these before we left. It was so sweet of her to try them all on for me.'

'You tried them _all?'_ Fay looked at the auburn haired girl in mock shock.

'It's not like I had any other choice.' The girl replied in an undertone when she was sure Tomoyo wasn't listening. 'Her puppy pout is pure _evil._ You can't say no to it.'

'Take care of yourself kid.' Kurogane said as he dumped the last bag into the back and climbed behind the steering wheel. 'And don't flunk in school because you hunt those things at night.'

'I won't,' Syaoran smiled, 'drop by for a visit again someday.'

'Take care of Sakura as well.' Tomoyo whispered in his ear as she hugged him. 'I'll miss you.'

'I'll miss you too.' Syaoran said as he hugged her back.

'Hurry up Tomoyo.' Kurogane said impatiently as he started the engine, 'we have to get going.'

'Coming.' The girl rolled her eyes as she let the brown haired boy go, 'no hunting on school nights, okay?'

'Okay.' Syaoran sighed in defeat, giving in when he caught sight of that puppy pout she was giving him. Sakura was right; there was no way anyone could ever say no to that. Not even the mighty Kurogane could stand that deadly weapon.

'Later Flourite.' Kurogane said as he reversed the jeep and turned the vehicle around before driving out of the residence.

'Goodbye.' Tomoyo waved as she turned around in her seat to look at them until they disappeared from her sight.

'So, where to now?' Kurogane said as looked at her through the side of his eye.

'I heard some vampires are terrorizing a town up north.' She replied as she pulled out her laptop and turned it on.

'Up north it is then.' Kurogane gave a feral grin as he straightened the rearview mirror and sped up the jeep.

*********************************

_**Next evening:**_

_**Time: 17:45 (5:45 p.m.)**_

_**Kamui's loft:**_

'Geez kid, it's not the end of the world.' Kamui said in a bemused tone as he watched the brown haired teenager pull out one shirt after the other. How many shirts did that kid have again? That hunter's fiancé must have been out of her mind to buy so many clothes for a boy.

'You don't understand,' Syaoran said as he threw down yet another shirt on the floor. 'I have no idea where I am going to take her. Well I do have one place in mind but what if she doesn't like it? What if I disappoint her? What if…'

'If you're so full of doubt, why did you even ask her out?' Kamui cut in.

'I don't know what came over me.' Syaoran slumped on the ground next to his pile of clothes, jeans, shirts and jackets included. 'Why did I do it? Maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Maybe I should…'

Kamui tuned him out for a while to think. _Okay so _that_ might not have been such a good idea. Change tactics. Get the kid out before his nerves drive you insane._

Kamui bent down and grabbed a black muscle shirt and pair of khaki pants having lots of pockets and thrust them into Syaoran's arms, 'these will be just fine. Now go change before I throw you out in what you are already wearing. Maybe the Flourite's sister might like you in your boxers alone.'

That got the boy moving. He jumped off the floor as though suddenly electrocuted and ran for the bathroom even as a pink flush crept up his neck.

_**Time: 17:50 (5:50 p.m.)**_

_**Flourite's residence:**_

'It's just a date Sakura,' Fay laughed as his sister whizzed around the house in a knee length skirt and pink sleeveless shirt, searching for her pair of matching sandals.

'He's gonna be here any minute and I can't find my shoes anywhere.' She said crossly as she pushed her hair out of her face and bent down to look underneath her bed.

'Why not wear something else?' Fay suggested as he leaned against the doorframe.

'Because those are the ones I wanna wear.' She replied as she got back on her feet and ran to look behind the sofa in the living room, narrowly avoiding crashing into her brother on the way.

'Have you checked your cupboard?' Fay asked with an amused chuckle as Sakura banged her head on the floor in her haste to look under the table.

'The cupboard??? Of course I have… checked… there… oh God!' Sakura cried out as she smacked herself on the head, 'I am such an idiot.' She jumped to her feet and raced upstairs. Fay followed her at a much more sedate pace. By the time he got there, she was strapping on the second sandal.

'You're really enjoying yourself, aren't you?' Sakura pouted crossly.

'What in the world gave you that idea?' Fay asked innocently as he tried not to laugh.

'Fay you are one evil big brother.'

DING!

'Aaah! He's here.' Sakura jumped as she rushed to the mirror and grabbed a brush. 'I'm late. What is he going to think? I'm…'

'Looking perfect.' Fay said with a smile as he took the brush from her hand and walked down the stairs. 'I'll let him in so hurry up, okay?'

Fay opened the door only to find that Syaoran was not the only one standing on his doorstep. A smirking Kamui stood behind the nervous boy.

'Had to bring him over, God knows what he might have done to the car if I had given it to him in _this _condition.' Kamui said as he let himself in.

'I know what you mean.' Fay grinned as he moved out of the way to let the teenager through. 'Syaoran I expect you to bring my sister home not a minute after ten.' Fay said sternly as the three walked into the living room. 'And no funny business or else...'

'Fay, leave him alone.' Sakura whined as she entered the room.

'Hey Sakura.' Syaoran said with a smile.

'H-hey Syaoran.' Sakura greeted him with a timid smile.

'Have fun you two.' Fay said as he pushed the two teenagers out of the doors, 'be home by ten.'

'You sure this is a good idea?' Kamui asked in a serious tone once the teenagers were out of the front gate.

'Nope,' replied the blue eyed magician as he closed the door. 'But we'll find out soon enough, won't we?'

'We're all doomed.' Kamui shook his head as he followed him back into the living room.

_**The End**_

_**A/N: finally. It is finished. (Dances around in joy). Well believe it or not I've been working on this chapter for almost three weeks and A..A..Achoo… man. It sucks to catch a flu, fever and have a sore throat in the middle of summer.**_

_**This last chapter is 8459 words long so I hope it makes up for the loooong wait. So how was it? Good or bad? I hope it wasn't as suckish as I feel at the moment. Curse you stupid heat.**_

_**Kurogane: stop cursing the weather. It's your own fault you got sick.**_

_**Me: (sneezes) shut up. I don't see you ever getting sick due to bad weather.**_

_**Kurogane: that's because I'm a ninja.**_

_**Me: not in this fic you're not.**_

_**Kurogane: I still didn't catch flu unlike **_**someone **_**I know.**_

_**Me: stop rubbing it in. (sneezes again) just you wait, you're gonna be sick for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnng time in the next story that I write.**_

_**Kurogane: ooooh. I'm scared.**_

_**Me: you should b…Achoo.**_

_**Kurogane: (snorts) oh yeah. Very threatening.**_

_**Tomoyo: (stomps on his foot and gives the author a tissue box) be nice, she is sick.**_

_**Me: thanks Tomoyo.**_

_**Fay: so this is the end? (pouts) everyone gets their girl except for me.**_

_**Me: sorry Fay. That's just the way it was supposed to end… or was it? (grins in I-know-something-and-you-don't manner) I hope the explanation was good enough and it didn't confuse anyone since I tried to clear out everything.**_

_**Kamui: I am a softie? When did that happen?**_

_**Me: ask the flu. It knows.**_

_**Kamui: (rolls his eyes) I am soo outta here.**_

_**Kurogane: me too.**_

_**Fay: guys. You do know she is planning on bringing us all back in another one of her stories.**_

_**Kamui and Kurogane: (turn around in horror) no.**_

_**Me: ohhh yess…achoo. stupid flu.**_

_**Kurogane: quick, let's get away while she's cursing the flu.**_

_**Me: you can run all you want; I'll still know where to find you. Achooooo..**_

_**Kamui: (squeels like a girl) run for your lives. She's gone mad.**_

_**Fay: maybe we should all leave and let her rest for some time.**_

_**Me: don't forget to head over to the review room. Reviews will act as get well soon cards and wishes and help nurse the author back to health. Come on people; help me… achoo… get well. Have a heart. I'm tired of sneezing like that.**_

_**Hurry up and review or the flu might just attack your cyber-selves as well. (Sneezes yet again) I'm gonna go turn off the fan while you guys leave some reviews. **_

_**Disclaimer**__**: I do not own any of the songs or characters used in this fic except for Aisha and Masooma. I do however own the plot for this sad excuse of a story and with this I shall one day rule the world. Mwahahaha..cough..hahaha… cough cough cough… maybe it wasn't such a good idea to eat ice-cream tonight afterall.**_

_**Anyhow, putting all that aside, I hope you enjoyed this story and don't want to kill me for making your heads spin. **_

_**Till we meet again.**_

_**p.s. if you are wondering then yes, the Yuuko in this story was the same Yuuko as Tsubasa and xxxHolic. She happened to live in this world before the events of those two comics. Also this world might turn up at some stage in my other fic Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. i have an idea of where this might fit into. You guys just wait and see what happens next.**_

_**Ja ne.**_


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